West Ham United need defenders.
The club managed to strengthen their backline with the acquisition of Vladimir Coufal from Slavia Prague on Friday and they have also turned Tomas Soucek’s loan into a permanent deal.
However, their attempts to bring in a new centre-back have thus far ended in disappointment.
The transfer deadline comes on Monday, and one feels that the Irons should be prioritising a move for a centre-back in the coming days.
Manager David Moyes has publicly admitted that a new defender is needed and it seems that there is an option being offered to the club on a silver platter.
Sport Witness carries a report from Corriere Torino, which claims that Daniele Rugani is more than willing to make the jump to the London Stadium.
Rennes are interested in signing the centre-back and Sport Witness claim that a number of French outlets believe a deal is essentially done.
But the Corriere Torino report states that the Juventus defender wants to move to West Ham.
The piece states that he would “look favourably” on a move to east London, potentially slowing down his move to Rennes.
It may be that he is testing the waters to see if the Irons will actually make a proper bid which, at this point, they haven’t done.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
It is a strange thing to say but it doesn’t really matter who West Ham are signing.
At the end of the day, they desperately need a new centre-back and it appears that Rugani is willing to make the move.
The 26-year-old has plenty of years left in the tank and is good enough to have played over 100 times for a superb Juventus team.
He has been capped seven times by Italy and one would say that this would be a good deal for the Irons to keep in their back pocket but Rennes’ interest somewhat complicates that.
Really, the Hammers will have to move quickly.
They ought to do that, and ensure that Rugani ends up in east London.