West Ham have suffered a blow after Aston Villa have rejected a bid for Jhon Duran.
The Hammers submitted an opening in the region of £32 million for the 20-year-old striker, but it fell short of Villa’s valuation of the player.
West Ham then offered another bid, involving Lewis Orford and a sell-on clause as a package deal.
Fabrizio Romano has claimed on X on 25 July that Villa have rejected their latest offer for Duran as they feel it is still not enough to meet £40m valuation.
Duran wants to play regular football and he is keen on joining the Hammers in the summer. Romano says that West Ham have not quit the discussion, rather they are still negotiating to find a solution to sign the Colombian striker.
Romano wrote on X: “Understand Aston Villa rejected West Ham new bid for Jhon Durán. £32m, Lewis Ordford and sell-on clause still not enough to meet £40m valuation wanted by Villa.
“Negotiations continue as Durán wants West Ham, up to the clubs.”
West Ham do not need to make situation complex
The Hammers are unnecessarily making the situation complex. They need to sign a striker in the summer, and they are offering a huge amount for someone who is hitherto unproven.
Duran may be a highly talented striker, but he has only a season under his belt in the Premier League, and that, too, he played mostly from the bench.
If West Ham feel that he is someone who can take the club forward they must offer a better deal to come close to Villa’s valuation, possibly in the region of £35-36 million and that is still a huge amount of money.
What is apparent is that the Hammers are not giving up. West Ham must look to first secure the signing of Bayern Munich defender Noussair Mazraoui and then can revisit the deal later for Duran.
In the mean time, they should look to explore other options as clearly they should be able to find quality and experienced strikers in Europe at that price range.
