West Ham United are exploring a deal to sign Juventus attacking midfielder Filip Kostic ahead of the transfer deadline tomorrow, reports Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth.
Both clubs have started talks over signing the Serbian international, but there is a gap in their valuations as Juventus want around £20 to £25 million for him.
West Ham are open to signing Kostic on loan or permanently and are long-term admirers of the 30-year-old having tried to sign him last summer before he moved to Juve.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt star started 33 Serie A games last term and came off the bench four times, weighing in with three goals and eight assists, but he is yet to feature in Serie A this season, and has three years left on his contract, so the Hammers may need to offer close to what the Old Lady want to have a chance of landing him.
Aleksandar Mitrovic once dubbed Kostic as ‘one of the best wingers’ he has played with, and West Ham would be landing a quality attacker if they manage to get a deal for him over the line.
The former Hamburger SV star ended his time at Frankfurt with 33 goals and 64 assists in 172 games over the course of five campaigns, making the Bundesliga Team of the Season once and the UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season twice.
Kostic was the UEFA Europa League Player of the Season in 2021-22 after ending the campaign with the most assists (six) and helping his side win the competition.
The Serbian can play on both wings and as a striker, with key passes, crossing, taking brilliant set-pieces and delivering perfect direct free-kicks his strengths.
West Ham have strengthened their squad with the signings of Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos after losing Declan Rice, Gianluca Scamacca and Manuel Lanzini.
They could potentially land Hugo Ekitike and Kostic before 11 pm on Friday, which would represent a great summer in the transfer window as they look to build on last term’s heroics in the Europa Conference League.
