West Ham get serious and activate ‘concrete’ pursuit of AC Milan star worth up to £43m
Malick Thiaw and Mike Maignan in an AC Milan match
West Ham United are serious admirers of AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw, according to reports in Italy.
Thiaw has risen in prominence for Milan so far this season; indeed, since about February last season, his gametime has been increasing. In turn, other clubs are starting to take a closer look at the former Schalke man.
According to Sky Sport Italia, West Ham are far more concrete admirers of Thiaw than recent rumours that have suggested he could be on the radar of Real Madrid.
The asking price for Thiaw is rather broad at the moment; the report claims it could be anywhere between €30m and €50m, which would equate to somewhere from £26m to £43m. At either end of that spectrum, Milan would be making a substantial profit on a player they spent €8.6m to sign back in August 2022.
A move to West Ham would give the Germany international his first chance of playing in the Premier League. He made 61 appearances for Schalke after coming through their academy until he earned his move to Serie A with Milan, who were reigning champions at the time of his arrival but finished fourth in his debut season.
West Ham already invested in their defence this summer by signing Konstantinos Mavropanos from Stuttgart. It followed on from their additions of Nayef Aguerd and Thilo Kehrer last year.
TEAMtalk also understands that Kurt Zouma is in line for a new contract at the London Stadium. However, with Angelo Ogbonna now at the age of 35, there might be a vacancy for one more centre-half in David Moyes’ squad next year when the Italian’s own deal expires.
West Ham weighing up how to strengthen defence
We have also been informed that Ronnie Edwards from Peterborough United is someone of interest to West Ham.
It appears they are weighing up all their options before choosing what route to go down in 2024. If they opt for Thiaw, they would be getting a player of Champions League experience, who has also earned a couple of caps at international level.
They will have to assess the costs of a deal for the 22-year-old, though, especially in comparison to some of the other options that may be on the table.
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