West Ham hurtle towards excellent PSG striker signing as Tim Steidten holds ‘positive’ talks

West Ham United are getting closer to the impressive signing of Paris Saint-Germain centre-forward Hugo Ekitike after technical director Tim Steidten held ‘positive’ talks over his transfer, according to a report.

West Ham are once again looking for a new striker after allowing Ginaluca Scamacca to go back to Italy. West Ham only signed Scamacca last summer, but after a disappointing debut campaign in England he has joined Atalanta on a permanent basis.

West Ham boss David Moyes can still rely on Danny Ings and Michail Antonio up front, and the latter scored a great goal in the 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Sunday. However, both attackers are over the age of 30, while they also tend to struggle with hamstring injuries.

As such, if West Ham want to get back in the Premier League’s top 10, as well as do well in the Europa League, then they need a deadly striker to join.

Surprisingly, they have gone to PSG to fill that void as on Monday it emerged they are targeting Ekitike.

West Ham are joined in the transfer pursuit by Milan and Eintracht Frankfurt. PSG, meanwhile, have set Ekitike’s price tag at €40m (£34.2m).

French source Foot Mercato have now provided an update on the situation. They state that West Ham have taken significant steps as they look to beat Milan and Frankfurt to the France U21 international.

Steidten, who is now in charge of West Ham’s recruitment, recently held a meeting with his PSG counterpart Luis Campos. Their discussion was ‘very constructive’ and went ‘positively’, it is claimed.

West Ham, PSG in fruitful talks over striker move

Steidten made it clear that West Ham are ready to pay the necessary fee in order to reach an agreement with PSG, which delighted Campos.

Steidten has also contacted Ekitike’s entourage in the last few days to try and convince the 21-year-old on a move to the London Stadium. Ekitike and his camp are described as being ‘very receptive’ to Steidten’s advances.

West Ham fans may be slightly concerned about the prospective signing of Ektike, given the fact he has only managed four goals in 33 games for PSG so far. However, there are a few reasons why this would actually be a brilliant deal for West Ham to complete.

First of all, Ekitike was excellent at his previous club Stade Reims. Despite his tender age, he registered 11 goals and four assists in 26 matches for Reims two seasons ago.

This prompted Newcastle United to try and sign him, but they were ultimately beaten to the capture by PSG. The fact that those two super-wealthy clubs were battling for Ekitike’s signature shows just how highly rated he was at the height of his form with Reims.

Ekitike’s time in the French capital has not gone to plan. However, he is still young, which means he has plenty of time to reach his full potential, which is sky high. And Moyes will be hoping to help him achieve this in East London, with West Ham pushing to win the transfer race.

Meanwhile, West Ham have announced the departure of a midfielder following the signing of James Ward-Prowse from Southampton.