West Ham take centre stage for €32m striker wanted by Mourinho to replace Kane

Krzysztof Piatek TEAMtalk

West Ham are understood to be in pole position to sign unwanted AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek.

The Poland hitman, who hit 22 goals in 37 Serie A appearances last season, is seemingly on the market this month after just four goals in 18 games this time around.

New Milan boss Stefano Pioli has no faith in the 24-year-old and Sportmediaset via Sport Witness report that Milan are looking to sell the forward this month, just 12 months after he arrived for €35m, plus add-ons from Genoa.

The arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is likely to push Piatek further down the pecking order and the source claim West Ham have made contact with Milan over a move with the Hammers described as being in “pole position” this month.

Aston Villa are also said to have registered an interest in the player, along with Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.

 

 

The report goes on to claim that West Ham “seem the most willing to invest” and report this second week of the January window as a “decisive week”.

Piatek is understood to be open to a move, with a transfer away from Italy apparently more likely than a move within Serie A, with Milan putting a price tag of €32m on the player.

In October the Daily Telegraph claimed Man Utd were preparing a January move for Piatek.

While more recently Calciomercato and Kicker reported that Piatek and Borussia Dortmund’s Paco Alcacer are on Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham shortlist after the injury to Harry Kane.

Mourinho has insisted that he and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will have to be “intelligent” in the January transfer market.

The Portuguese has reiterated on numerous occasions that he will not conduct an overhaul of his team this month, however Kane’s absence could hit their Champions League hopes hard.

Mourinho said: “This is our first transfer window, not the last. We are going to have one in the summer, we are going to have one in 2021 January, we are going to have another one in the summer of 2021.”