West Ham United
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West Ham transfers: Fresh round of talks taking place for cut-price Declan Rice replacement
West Ham will reportedly hold a fresh round of talks with Serie A giants Juventus on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of landing a replacement for Arsenal-bound midfielder Declan Rice.
The Gunners are finally said to have a full agreement in place to sign the England man for a club-record £105m fee after an initial issue over how the payments are to be paid.
Rice is walking away from the London Stadium on good terms, having lifted the European Conference League trophy is his final act as Hammers skipper. He is also pocketing the club a huge fee, although it remains to be seen how much of that will be used to bolster David Moyes’ squad going forward.
However, it appears that his potential replacement may not cost that much – if the latest reports on a move for Juve star Denis Zakaria are true.
The Swiss international spent last season on loan at Chelsea and is not currently considered in Massimiliano Allegri’s plans for the 2023/24 campaign.
To that end, Juve are looking to offload the 26-year-old to another club this summer and West Ham are considered the perfect option.
La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Moyes’ men are among the clubs leading the race for his signature and that there will be a new round of talks between directors of the two clubs on July 5.
Moyes attracted to reasonable asking price
Juventus’ asking price is also a reasonable one too, with them quoting €20million for a player they spent €8.6m on in January 2022 and was valued at nearer to €20m at one point.
Zakaria has scored one goal in 15 games with Juventus and only made eight appearances at Chelsea in 2022-23, notching just once.
His contract at the Allianz Stadium expires in June 2026, which at least enables Juve to up that price and recoup a fee that view as reasonable.
For West Ham, it would also give Moyes the chance to spend some of the remaining Rice funds of bolstering his squad further as the club prepare for a return to Europa League action and also look to avoid being embroiled in another relegation scrap next term.