Apparently, West Ham United’s chase for Lorient’s Alexis Claude-Maurice is not over this summer.
According to a report by Le10Sport, we have made a last-minute bid to try and beat Borussia Monchengladbach to his signature. It is claimed we have made a proposal for €10million (£8.9m), which is thought to be the largest offer on the table.
However, this all seems to be a waste of time now as the 21-year-old already seems to have made his mind up about where he wants to be playing his football next season – and it is not even in England, let alone being with us at the London Stadium.
According to a report by L’Equipe (via Get French Football News), Claude-Maurice stated that he wanted to head to the Bundesliga and join Gladbach because of the project that already exists at the club.
“I want to join Gladbach [Borussia Mönchengladbach]. They are a club that focus on young players,” he said. “There is a good structure, they are playing in the Europa League. I like their project & it suits me.”
Now, we have admitted in a previous article here on Vital West Ham that he could have been a solid and attractive addition for us as his statistics have shown huge signs of promise considering how young he is.
The left-sided winger, who can also play in a more central role, managed to net an exceptional 14 goals and provide a further four assists to his team-mates in a year where Lorient just missed out on obtaining promotion to Ligue 1. That kind of goal return from the 21-year-old is something we could have benefitted from for years to come at the London Stadium if we were able to acquire him.
But, with it appearing that he has his heart set on a move to the German outfit and a side that has a historic track record of playing youth – we just have to look at Reece Oxford to know how well youngsters get on there – and can offer him European football straight away, trying to beat them to the punch just simply is a waste of valuable time that Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillos allegedly do not want to lose (Claret and Hugh).
