West Ham United have spent heavily over the past few campaigns to close the gap with fellow London heavyweights. The club struggled to script an upsurge since moving to the Olympic Stadium but restored their stability to some extent under Manuel Pellegrini despite a disastrous start to their 2018-19 season.
The Hammers, meanwhile, roped in a few promising individuals last summer and are keen on bolstering the squad furthermore early in this window. The Chilean is aiming for a place in Europe after finishing 10th in the league standings, and therefore, is rivalling Arsenal for the signing of FC Lorient youngster Alexis Claude-Maurice according to Sky Sports.
The 21-year-old enjoyed a blistering spell down the left flank in Ligue 2 having netted 14 goals and assisted four times in 35 league outings. But the Les Merlus’ failure to gain promotion to the Ligue 1 has enhanced the odds of a potential high-profile summer switch amid interest from the Premier League outfits.
The Gunners saw an initial offer of €7m rejected by the second-tier side but are expected to come up with an improved bid this week in the region of €13m, according to Get French Football News and Mohamed Toubache-TER. West Ham, meanwhile, are eyeing a £10m swoop as per the report from Sky but must increase their offer to fend off Arsenal’s interest in the versatile attacker.
Lorient, on the other hand, are likely to demand a fee of around €20m (including add-ons) for their prized asset who is also in the radar of AS Monaco, Lille, Mainz and Borussia Monchengladbach. Both the Gunners and the Irons should showcase more ambition to rope in the French prospect and add more firepower to their attacking set-up for the forthcoming campaign.
Claude-Maurice, who represented France in various youth ranks, has mostly featured on the wing but is also influential while operating more centrally as a ‘number 10’. He is pacy, creative in the attacking third, holds sublime ball skills as well as finishing attributes.
Felipe Anderson enjoyed a blistering debut season as a wide attacker, but the gaffer needs to bring in an understudy to inject depth as well as competition high up the pitch. Manuel Lanzini is more suited as an advanced playmaker whereas Michail Antonio is expected to compete for a first-team slot with Andriy Yarmolenko down the right-hand flank. In such an instance, the signing of the French youngster is a necessity for West Ham.
