Craig Dawson is staying at West Ham
(Picture: Getty Images)West Ham’s hectic summer transfer window looks to finally be over after the club pulled the plug on Craig Dawson’s deadline day move to Wolves.
Dawson had been hoping to secure a switch to the Midlands club in order to move closer to his young family in Cheshire and the Hammers were reluctantly ready to sell the centre-back, provided they were able to bring in a replacement.
However, Southampton’s Jan Bednarek, their chief loan target, is instead set to join Aston Villa as a replacement for the injured Diego Carlos.
With summer signing Nayef Aguerd expected to be out for another six weeks and Angelo Ogbonna only just back from a lengthy ACL absence, David Moyes is not willing to risk being caught short at centre-back, meaning Dawson will remain with the Irons until January at least, when he will be entering the final six months of his contract.
FOLLOW ALL THE DEADLINE DAY DEALS LIVE!
As things stand, academy graduate Harrison Ashby will be in an identical position and the 20-year-old was another player the Hammers were considering letting go on the final day of the window.
The right-back was the subject of loan interest from several Championship clubs, while Newcastle expressed an interest in a permanent signing, but with Ben Johnson injured, Ashby’s exit was again dependent on a replacement arriving.
West Ham failed with an opening bid of £3.5million plus a further £3.m in add-ons for Torino full-back Ola Aina and have decided against returning with an improved offer for the former Fulham man, who has been named in his club’s starting XI for tonight’s meeting with Atalanta.
West Ham also explored a deadline day loan move for Wolves midfielder Leander Dendoncker during the two clubs’ discussions over Dawson, but the Belgian international is also instead set to join Villa on a permanent deal.
It means that, barring a late twist, a window in which West Ham spent more than £170m on eight new signings, including club record buy Lucas Paqueta, appears to have reached a quiet conclusion.
