You won’t believe Youssef En-Nesyri’s new stance on a move to West Ham after a seriously ironic twist in the situation.
Ahead of Julen Lopetegui’s official unveiling by West Ham, Hammers News exclusively revealed his top striker target.
The name was longstanding Hammers target Youssef En-Nesyri and it was presented to majority owner David Sullivan and Tim Steidten when he was being interviewed for the job.
Since our report En-Nesyri has been heavily linked with a move to West Ham at the third time of asking.
En-Nesyri was seen saying his goodbyes to Sevilla with reports claiming he is London Stadium bound.
Spanish publication El Mira also stated that West Ham can reunited Lopetegui and the Sevilla forward for just £17m this summer.
With financial issues dictating their summer business, Lopetegui’s former club Sevilla need to raise funds through player sales before the end of June.
As a result Marca believe En-Nesyri will definitely be sold for 20m Euros (£17m) by then – and most likely to the Hammers.
West Ham even appeared to drop a blatant En-Nesyri transfer hint on their own website recently.
West Ham’s long-running En-Nesyri saga
Since then the likes of Spurs and even Man United have been linked and it was a case of deja vu for Hammers fans.
The club has twice tried to sign En-Nesyri in the past only to be turned down both times by the Moroccan striker.
And there were claims En-Nesyri was still not sold on joining the Hammers, who are not in Europe, even with Lopetegui as manager.
There was a development yesterday when Spanish publication Mucho Deporte claimed West Ham were actually ‘moving away’ from the 27-year-old as a target.
It was stated that was because Lopetegui is said to be targeting a striker with a ‘different profile’ to En-Nesyri – namely Samu Omorodion.
Chelsea have since ruined any chance of West Ham doing a deal for the latter.
Now you won’t believe En-Nesyri’s new stance on a move to West Ham after the ironic twist.
En-Nesyri’s new stance on a move to West Ham after ironic twist
According to talkSPORT the forward now WANTS to join West Ham, just when Lopetegui had moved on to other targets.
In an exclusive, it is stated En-Nesyri now wants to reunite with Lopetegui at West Ham.
“The east London outfit have made a number of attempts to prise the player away from Spain in recent transfer windows to no success,” the report says.
“But he could now become West Ham’s second signing of the summer following the arrival of 18-year-old Luis Guilherme from Palmeiras…
“And it is believed that the ex-Malaga man would be willing to following the Spaniard to the Premier League.”
One theory could be that Lopetegui has deliberately had it “put it out there” that he was no longer interested in En-Nesyri anymore to put the frighteners on the player.
Has cunning Lopetegui put the frighteners on?
If he did then it has certainly worked.
Encouragingly for West Ham fans who believe En-Nesyri is the ideal forward for them, talkSPORT also claim Lopetegui is actually still keen to sign his former leading man.
At £17m this is a complete no-brainer for the Hammers.
It would seem it’s a no brainer for Lopetegui and the player too given how well they worked together at Sevilla.
En-Nesyri also has all the attributes needed to thrive in the Premier League: namely great hold-up player, pace and aerial ability.
He has only just turned 27 and recorded an average match rating of just under 7/10 last season, being voted Sevilla’s man of the match on four occasions.