West Ham United are falling behind within the race to signal Jan Bednarek this summer season.
What’s the discuss?
That’s based on a report by The Athletic, who declare that, regardless of the curiosity of each West Ham and Leicester City, it’s Aston Villa who are actually main the race for the Southampton centre-back’s signing over the rest of the summer season switch window.
The report goes on to state that Steven Gerrard is now in superior talks with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s aspect over a deal believed to be value round €15m (£13m) for the 26-year-old, after Villa had initially tried to safe the defender on a season-long mortgage.
Moyes should act quick
Considering simply how spectacular Bednarek was as part of a largely underperforming Southampton aspect final season, it isn’t obscure why all three of West Ham, Villa and Leicester can be desirous about a transfer for the Poland worldwide this summer season.
Indeed, over his 31 Premier League appearances in 2021/22, the £25.5m-rated centre-back was in imperious type within the coronary heart of the Saints’ backline. He helped his workforce maintain seven clear sheets, together with making 2.3 interceptions, one sort out and 4.5 clearances and profitable 4.5 duels (at a hit charge of 62%) per recreation.
Let’s examine these figures to Kurt Zouma, who was West Ham’s best-performing centre-back final season.
Over the Frenchman’s 24 Premier League outings in 2021/22, he helped his aspect to maintain 5 clear sheets, together with making 1.4 interceptions, 0.5 tackles and 5.5 clearances and profitable 2.8 duels (at a hit charge of 59%) per match.
The £20k-per-week Southampton defender additionally chipped in for his workforce in assault, scoring 4 targets and creating one huge probability for his team-mates, along with finishing 38.1 passes (at a hit charge of 82%), taking part in 2.8 lengthy balls and taking 0.6 photographs per recreation.
These returns noticed the “outstanding” 26-year-old common a powerful SofaScore match ranking of 6.94, rating him as Hasenhuttl’s third-best participant within the English high flight final season.
As such, with Bednarek fairly clearly being strong on the again, a risk going forwards and a cut price for a reported asking value at roughly £12.5m under his present market valuation, it isn’t tough to see why Moyes has taken an curiosity within the centre-back.
However, with Villa very a lot seeking to be main the race for the 42-cap worldwide, the West Ham boss should act rapidly if he needs to provide himself the absolute best probability of stealing the Poland defender away from Gerrard’s grasp within the coming days.