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West Ham are reportedly eyeing a move for Chile international Charles Aranguiz, who could be the perfect midfield partner for Declan Rice.

What's the story?

According to Bild, Manuel Pellegrini has been impressed by Aranguiz during the Copa America in Brazil.

The report claims Bayer Leverkusen want to keep the midfielder, but with just one year left on his contract that may prove difficult for the Bundesliga outfit.

The Hammers have of course already added Pablo Fornals to their midfield ranks this summer.

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The perfect combination?

In the shape of Marko Arnautovic, Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini and Fornals, West Ham have perhaps the best selection of attacking talent outside of the ‘big six’.

The problem though is that behind that, there is only really Rice who can be relied upon to play regular matches to a high level.

Mark Noble has just turned 32, and Pedro Obiang simply isn’t good enough, so a move for Aranguiz makes a lot of sense.

The 30 year-old may not be far behind Noble in terms of age, but he covers an incredible amount of ground compared to the Irons skipper, and provided three goals and seven assists for Leverkusen last season.

He is a typical box-to-box midfielder, doing a little bit of everything for the German club last year with 88.6% passing and 1.3 key passes per game, while also contributing two tackles and one interception per game (Whoscored).

While Rice excels at breaking up play and spraying the ball around, Aranguiz is an all-action presence who will cover every blade of grass, help Rice in a defensive sense and get forward and contribute alongside the aforementioned array of attacking talent.

The 70-cap Chile ace is not a name who will set the world alight, but if he offers Pellegrini a reliable and busy presence in the middle of the park then it would be money well spent from the Hammers.