West Ham United are already making moves ahead of the summer transfer window, with manager David Moyes targeting Dominic Solanke, FootballTransfers can exclusively reveal.
The Hammers were the primary bidders for the Bournemouth striker during the January transfer window, and they have already spoken with his representatives.
A bidding war for Solanke is likely this summer, with several teams interested in the centre-forward, although West Ham have tried to get ahead of their rivals. Arsenal and Liverpool have been connected to him.
Moyes has spoken with Solanke’s entourage, FootballTransfers has been informed. The Scotsman spoke with members of the player’s family after a recent Premier League match.
West Ham are willing to give the former Chelsea and Liverpool forward £115,000 per week, which is understood to be a big raise over his salary at Bournemouth.
Solanke is having a breakthrough season in the Premier League. He has 14 goals in 26 games, tying Jarrod Bowen of West Ham for fourth place on the top scorer leaderboard. He had never scored more than six times in a single Premier League season.
Solanke is open to a move, although his contract with the Cherries runs until 2027. As a result, West Ham would have to spend a significant amount to sign him.
Bournemouth want to begin negotiations around the £60 million (€70 million) mark, but a fee of £45 million (€53 million) is likely to be acceptable to the south coast club, with that being an offer they cannot afford to reject.
Such a fee would smash West Ham’s transfer record of €50 million, which they paid for Eintracht Frankfurt’s Sebastien Haller in 2019.
Solanke signed a new contract with Andoni Iraola’s side in September, although this is unlikely to derail the deal. FootballTransfers knows that before signing the contract, Solanke agreed with Bournemouth that he could leave in the summer of 2024 if a good offer came in for him.
