According to a recent report from Tuttomercato Web, West Ham have made a loan offer for Cagliari's Nahitan Nandez, with an obligation to buy for around €40m (£33.8m) - including bonuses.

Cagliari will now reflect on the offer and the suggestion is that the player is not keen on leaving, while the club have put a new contract offer, which includes a €40m termination clause to come into effect in June this summer, on the table for his consideration.

If the Hammers do manage to land this deal, however, there would be one winner and one loser...

Call yourself a West Ham expert? How much did each of these January signings cost?

Winner: Declan Rice

Needless to say, Rice has been one of West Ham's best players in recent years and fans are usually quick to shower him with praise after his performances.

And despite the Hammers' collective struggles which have seen them flirt with the relegation spots throughout the campaign, Rice has still been able to drop excellent displays along the way.

But that still doesn't change the fact there's a genuine lack of quality surrounding the midfielder and David Moyes needs someone to lend Rice a helping hand. Nandez could very well be that player to give the Hammers an edge in the middle of the park.

With 1.5 tackles on average in Serie A so far and 1.3 fouls, he definitely seems like an aggressive and tireless option who could ease the defensive workload on Rice's shoulders.

Losers: David Gold & Sullivan

West Ham targeting midfielders is good news for the club but the fact that Tuttomercato claim they will only be able to buy Nandez for around €40m (£33.8m) clearly emphasises the problem they have in the upper hierarchy of the club.

Back during the summer when Cagliari first bought the player from Boca Juniors, they only had to pay a reported fee of around €18m (£15.2m) but now, the Hammers will have to fork out more than double that figure for the same player.

The Hammers' need to sign a new central midfield player was obvious in the 2019 summer window, but David Gold and David Sullivan failed to address that issue when it was staring them in the face.

Needless to say, the €40m fee is bound to take a significant chunk out of the club's budget for the coming summer, but they wouldn't need to commit to such a huge outlay if their top flight status wasn't in serious jeopardy.

Clearly, the player was available for a much cheaper price in the past but the east London outfit weren't able to identify or secure his signature at the time, and they may now pay the price for that oversight - quite literally.

Needless to say, this deal won't reflect well on the club's hierarchy.