Julen Lopetegui has given the green light for West Ham to hold talks over a £12m deal and it can mean only one thing.
West Ham are back on the transfer trail in a big way this week.
After signing midfield star Luis Guilherme – who, according to the teenager himself, can play across all attacking positions – attentions have now turned elsewhere.
New Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui currently has 18 senior players in his squad including Guilherme.
Veteran goalkeeper Wes Foderingham will make that 19. So West Ham still need another six signings to have the full complement of 25.
That is not taking into account any further departures, though.
And there will be several of those it seems.
Lopetegui wants to sell captain Kurt Zouma while his fellow centre-back Nayef Aguerd wants out and is also up for sale.
New claim can mean only one thing
There has been speculation James Ward-Prowse might be sold while a decision will have to be made on Maxwel Cornet too.
Jacob Steinberg recently confirmed the positions West Ham want to strengthen this summer.
They include two central defenders, a striker, a central midfielder, a left-winger and a left-back.
West Ham did make a move for Girona’s Spanish central midfield ace Aleix Garcia while technical director Tim Steidten is believed to retain an interest in France ace Youssouf Fofana.
The Hammers were beaten to Garcia by Bayer Leverkusen.
Things have gone quiet in terms of links to central midfielders since.
But now Lopetegui has given the green light for West Ham to hold talks over a £12m deal.
And it can mean only one thing.
Lopetegui green lights West Ham talks over £12m deal
According to The Times overnight, West Ham are now in talks to sell Flynn Downes to Southampton in a permanent deal.
Lopetegui was reportedly taking time to make a decision about the boyhood Hammer after the 25-year-old helped Saints win promotion back to the Premier League while on loan.
Hammers News previously revealed Saints had an option – or at least gentleman’s agreement – to buy Downes for around £12m should they bounce straight back to the big time.
Downes helped them do just that and a £12m deal would represent a slight profit for West Ham on their original £10.5m outlay.
While not hugely surprising, this news does mean one thing is certain.
West Ham are clearly going to be in the market for a new central midfielder.
That will be music to the ears of fans who watched David Moyes toil to try and make his mix of central midfield players work without sustained success last season.
Lopetegui must fix disjointed central midfield
Edson Alvarez – seen as fundamental by West Ham fans – was key for much of the season before falling out of favour with Moyes towards the end.
Ward-Prowse divides opinion. He weighed in with an impressive 18 goal contributions in his debut season.
But many feel he does not offer enough in open play. It remains to be seen where Lopetegui stands on that matter.
Tomas Soucek is another who divides opinion. But he offers so much to the team defensively and chipped in with another 10 goals last term.
Mohammed Kudus is known to want to play in his preferred attacking central midfield role.
So it’s clear there would be little room for Downes.
Selling him would bolster West Ham’s transfer kitty back up around the £94m mark together with the sale of Nathan Trott as Guilherme cost the Hammers an initial £20m.
Supporters should keep a close eye on links to central midfielders in the coming weeks.
