West Ham and Chelsea made separate last-ditch efforts to snap up Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran before the transfer window shut on Friday night, according to HITC Football.
The website claims that the two Premier League sides “attempted to sign” the Colombian international on loan but their offers were rejected by the Villans.
That is not at all surprising considering that the Midlands club would have had no opportunity to find a replacement for Duran in time.
On top of that, they had been demanding £40m for the 20-year-old earlier on in the summer so there was no chance they were going to let him leave on a temporary basis.
West Ham had already strengthened their frontline
While the Hammers were clearly still keen to reinforce their options up front, there wasn’t as pressing a need after the arrival of Niklas Fullkrug from Borussia Dortmund earlier in the month.
It means head coach Julen Lopetegui has the German, Michail Antonio and Danny Ings as options to lead the line. Chelsea, in contrast, saw multiple attempts to bring in a forward fail, after their negotiations for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen also collapsed.
Has the first-team squad been strengthened sufficiently?
Lopetegui was looking for two options in every position heading into the summer and, for the most part, technical director Tim Steidten has satisfied his demands. The only exception is in the centre of defence.
Nayef Aguerd was allowed to leave on loan for Real Sociedad, while Kurt Zouma is expected to officially sign for Saudi Pro League side Al-Orouba soon, so Lopetegui will be left with only three senior centre-halves: Jean-Clair Todibo, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Max Kilman. That lack of depth could come back to bite the Irons over the coming weeks and months.
