West Ham United have been handed a huge boost in their bid to bring Amadou Onana to the London Stadium this summer.
What’s the latest?
That’s according to a recent report by Belgian media outlet HLN, who revealed that, following news of West Ham’s increased €30m (£25m) bid for the holding midfielder being rejected by LOSC Lille, the agent of the 20-year-old is now actively pushing for his client to secure a move away from the Ligue 1 side this summer – with doubts lingering about whether the Belgium international will be a starter under the management of Paulo Fonseca next season.
The report goes on to state that, despite the Lille president, Olivier Letang, believing that Onana will develop into a top-level talent in the future, the Frenchman would be willing to part with the midfielder for an offer in the region of €40m (£34m) this summer – with Everton, Leicester City and AS Monaco also believed to be keen on the former Hamburger SV starlet.
Moyes must act
Considering just how exciting a prospect Onana undoubtedly is, the news that the 20-year-old’s agent is now pushing for the midfielder to secure a move away from the Stade Pierre Mauroy this summer is sure to have come as a huge boost to David Moyes and his West Ham transfer team.
Indeed, over his 32 Ligue 1 appearances in 2021/22, the £9m-rated talent enjoyed a stellar breakthrough campaign, scoring one goal and creating three big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 0.9 tackles and winning 3.4 duels – at a success rate of 54% – per game.
These returns saw the £5.5k-per-week youngster who Jacek Kulig dubbed a “masterclass” average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.85, ranking him as Lille’s joint ninth-best performer in the league last season – a quite extraordinary achievement in his debut campaign in France.
Furthermore, according to FBref, the 20-year-old also ranks in the top 6% of midfielders in Europe’s big five leagues and European competitions for tackles per 90, as well as the top 21% for aerial duels won, the top 24% for clearances and the top 25% for interceptions over the last 365 days.
As such, the fact that Onana’s agent appears extremely keen to secure the starlet a move away from Lille this summer, coupled with West Ham’s latest offer being just €10m (£8.5m) short of Letang’s asking price for the midfielder, leads us to believe that Moyes simply must return with a third bid for the Belgian sensation in the coming days.
AND in other news: West Ham closing in on “remarkable” £10m target, it would be a “masterstroke” by Moyes