West Ham are interested in signing Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus and could move for the midfielder even if Lucas Paqueta remains at the club.
Paqueta is the subject of strong interest from Manchester City, who had an initial £60million bid rejected last week.
The Hammers are reluctant to lose the Brazilian, who became their club-record signing only 12 months ago, but there is an acceptance that they will struggle to hold onto the player should City return with an improved bid, as is expected.
As a result, the Irons have begun sounding out possible replacements and while they are yet to make a formal offer for Kudus, they have made their interest known to Ajax.
However, it is understood that a bid to sign the 23-year-old will not be solely dependent upon Paqueta’s departure, with David Moyes keen to strengthen his options going forward even before City’s interest in the playmaker became clear.
Kudus can play in both central midfield and out wide and with Moyes talking up the prospect of using Jarrod Bowen as a striker this term, the Ghanaian could be used on the right-wing, where City youngster Cole Palmer is also a target.
At one stage earlier this summer, Kudus appeared on the brink of joining Brighton but a reported €40m deal has not materialised and he played the full 90 minutes in Ajax’s Eredivisie opener last weekend, scoring in a 4-1 win over Heracles.
Meanwhile, the Hammers were this morning still waiting for discussions between Manchester United and Harry Maguire over the defender’s pay-off to be resolved.
West Ham have a £30m deal in place to sign the England centre-back, who has also agreed personal terms, but Maguire would be taking a significant pay-cut to move to the London Stadium and is hoping to negotiate a lucrative departure from Old Trafford.
There are also suggestions United want to sign a replacement before allowing Maguire to leave, and while Moyes remains desperate to bring the 30-year-old to east London, West Ham could yet move on to other targets should the deal continue to stall.
Elsewhere, Jesse Lingard is back training with West Ham as he looks to keep up his fitness but at present it is considered unlikely that the free agent will be offered a return to his former club.
