West Ham United are clearly very interested indeed in signing right-back Kyle Walker-Peters from Southampton this summer.
The 27-year-old Southampton man would be a great signing for the Hammers this summer there’s no doubt about that.
Kyle Walker-Peters first emerged as a West Ham transfer target when he was still a Tottenham player back in January 2020.
And then, he found himself back in the crosshairs of the Hammers this summer.
Julen Lopetegui needs to sign a top-class right-back this summer, with a big upgrade on Vladimir Coufal required desperately.
The 31-year-old has been a fine servant for West Ham over the past four years, but his time as a top level player is coming to an end as far as I’m concerned.
Walker-Peters is on another level entirely to the Czech Republic international, certainly from a physical perspective.
He possesses absolutely blistering pace, is a fine tackler and offers a real threat going forward as well.
So can Lopetegui bring him to the London Stadium.
One thing stopping West Ham from signing Kyle Walker-Peters
So whilst the Hammers are well in the race to sign the Saints defender, there is no guarantee that we will bring him to East London this summer.
I think that Lopetegui should be going all out to make it happen though.
Dharmesh Sheth has been speaking to Give Me Sport about West Ham’s pursuit of the £20 million Saints ace.
The Sky Sports journalist has outlined a major problem that the Hammers face though.
Sheth said, “They’ve been chasing Kyle Walker-Peters for a while now. Talks, I’m told, are still open with Southampton, but a fee simply can’t be agreed, between what West Ham are prepared to pay and what Southampton want.“
What I will say is why on earth did we allow Flynn Downes to join Southampton in an £18 million deal earlier this week, rather than use him as a bargaining chip in our move for the two-capped England international right-back?
It seems bizarre to me – we had some real leverage but then just gave it away.
£20 million for the 27-year-old seems like decent value to me. However, Kyle Walker-Peters will be out of contract at St Mary’s in the summer of 2025, so I can see why West Ham are trying to get Southampton to lower their demands.
I’m hopeful that we will end up signing him for somewhere around the £15-18 million range towards the end of the window.
He’d take us to another level entirely and would be a huge upgrade on Coufal, that’s for sure.
