West Ham defender Thilo Kehrer is closing in on a loan move to Monaco as he bids to keep his dream of playing in his home Euro 2024 alive.
Talks with the French side have continued over the past week, with the expectation that any deal will include an option to make the move permanent in the summer, though it is understood that several other clubs, including Roma, remain interested.
Kehrer featured regularly throughout his first season in east London, having signed from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2022, but has fallen down the pecking order this term.
The form of Vladimir Coufal at right-back and the arrival of Konstantinos Mavropanos as specialist centre-half cover have seen the versatile German limited to just 18 minutes of Premier League football.
Kehrer was part of the Germany squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but has not played for his country since June, having been left out of all three sets of international fixtures this season. Despite the national side’s underwhelming run of recent results, he now faces a battle to force his way into Julian Nagelsmann’s plans ahead of the summer’s tournament on home soil.
The 27-year-old is one of a number of players who could leave West Ham this month, with the club willing to listen to offers for the likes of Danny Ings, Maxwel Cornet and Ben Johnson.
Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals could also be available, though the situation is complicated by Lucas Paqueta’s injury and the fact that Mohammed Kudus is due to join up with Ghana for the Africa Cup of Nations.
“I think we might be looking to lose one or two players before we bring anybody else in,” Moyes said last week. “A lot will depend on players going to the African Nations and depend on injuries as well, which we have done very well with this season so far but just in the last day or two picked up a couple of small injuries.”
