West Ham confident of beating Tottenham to ‘special’ £50m midfielder

New reports have suggested that West Ham are feeling very confident that they can beat the likes of Tottenham Hotspur to the signing of Conor Gallagher.

According to the Evening Standard, West Ham are ‘optimistic’ that that they can beat rivals Tottenham despite having a £40million bid rejected for him.

West Ham are looking to strengthen this summer and desperately need midfield signings. This is due to the fact that Declan Rice has moved to Arsenal.

It will no doubt take a couple of players to replace the world-class star and it seems like Gallagher is one of their top targets.

West Ham optimistic they will beat Spurs to Gallagher

The ‘special‘ midfielder shone on his loan spell at Crystal Palace, scoring eight goals and picking up three assists in one season.

Last campaign, at Chelsea, like a lot of the players at the club, he struggled to replicate his good form. Despite this, the £50million English international would still be a great signing for the Hammers.

He is a great box-to-box midfielder who can help the Hammers in both defence and attack. More so, it is even better that if they sign him it will mean they beat their Premier League rivals to the midfielder.

With the Hammers battling relegation for the majority of last season despite their European exploits, they need top signings.

Gallagher would definitely be a great start to signing some top quality talent. It will be interesting to see how much West Ham will be willing to pay for him.

Hopefully we see a lot more activity from the Hammers or they may struggle to be competitive in both the Premier League and the Europa League.

West Ham make an effort to sign a “flamboyant” £17 million “assist machine,” according to the viewpoint

West Ham: Samuel Iling-Junior could be Bowen’s heir

Iling-Junior may be set for a move back to the English capital…

West Ham are one of several clubs in the race for Samuel Iling-Junior this summer.

Who wants to sign Samuel Iling-Junior?

According to Il Bianconero (via Sport Witness), the Hammers, alongside Fulham and Everton, are keen on Iling-Junior and have made ‘concrete’ moves to try and bring the player to England.

The English sides have all ‘concretely come forward’ to assess the youngster and their respective next moves.

It is understood that Juventus are flexible in allowing the 19-year-old to leave, either through a permanent sale or a loan with an obligation to buy.

The Old Lady values the winger, who can also play as a left wing-back at around €20m (£17m) and his contract in Italy doesn’t expire until 2025.What is Samuel Iling-Junior’s style of play?Iling-Junior began his career in Chelsea’s academy system in 2011, spending nine years with the West London outfit.

However, in 2020, he decided to leave the Blues and signed a deal later that year with Juventus. In 58 appearances for the Italian youth teams, he registered 29 goal contributions.

Thanks to this string of impressive performances, he made his Serie A debut in October 2022, coming on as a late substitute for Filip Kostic against Empoli. Later that month, the 2003-born gem then made his first Champions League appearance against Benfica, and within six minutes, he created an assist for Arkadiusz Milik.

At the end of last season in May, Iling-Junior made his first Serie A start and netted his first goal with the Senior side in a 2-0 victory over Atalanta.

In a short space of time, the forward has already forged a promising reputation thanks to his exciting talent and buzzing dynamism.

Michele Neri from Eurosport Italy has eulogised his potential, saying: “He has a great sense for dribbling and a speed from a standing start that other Juventus players do not have.

“He is an assist machine, but he can also score, especially when his movements off the ball allows him to find space in the penalty area.

“However, with the first team he has only scored one goal so far… so in terms of the next thing to work on I would say he can turn more chances into goals.”

From a West Ham perspective, Neri’s most telling comment is that the £11k-per-week starlet is a “very quick player, who loves to take on opposing full-backs and attack the vertical spaces, in a very direct way.”

This description bears much similarity to Jarrod Bowen, who has been of the Irons’ most important assets in recent times.

In the 2021/22 season, the 26-year-old recorded 24 goal involvements in the league and became the first West Ham player to record ten goals and assists in a single campaign since Paolo Di Canio in 2000. That year, Bowen was named the Players’ Player of the Season.

He continued the most recent campaign in an instrumental, as he was the club’s top league scorer with six goals, and engrained his name into Hammers folklore with a last-ditch winner in the European final against Fiorentina.

If the four-cap international ever possibly saw his future away from the London Stadium, then Iling-Junior, who has been described as “flamboyant” by Jacek Kulig, could be the heir to step into his claret throne.