David Sullivan must sanction a West Ham United swoop to sign Olympique de Marseille midfielder Morgan Sanson, and deliver David Moyes a dream heir to Mark Noble in the January transfer window.
What’s the word?
According to The Sun, the Hammers are ready to discuss a potential swap deal that will see Manuel Lanzini join the Ligue 1 side in hopes of adding Sanson this month.
Marseille are said to value the 26-year-old at £25m but they could use interest from Newcastle United and Aston Villa in attempts to drive up their asking price.
Sanson has previously turned down opportunities to join West Ham, where Moyes is keen to sign a new midfielder as Noble’s playing days are seen to be nearing their end.
Newcastle would prefer to wait until the summer before making a move to sign Sanson, though Aston Villa have been closely monitoring the £48,000-per-week beast for several months and are preparing to make a formal offer this winter, per TF1’s Julien Maynard.
West Ham hope the inclusion of Lanzini, who they value at £15m, will better place the east London outfit in any bidding war for Sanson, who Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed he is willing to let go.
“The transfer window is open. He is highly rated in England. He interests English football, by its characteristics. It is possible that something is happening”, the former Chelsea and Tottenham coach said, via quotes by RMC Sport. “Officially [Marseille have] received no offer.”
Dream Noble heir
Sullivan sanctioning a swoop for Sanson in the January transfer window could see West Ham deliver Moyes a dream Noble heir, as the Frenchman has proven to be a box-to-box menace in Ligue 1 for a number of years.
Sanson has already offered two goals and three assists in 11 Ligue 1 games this term, to continue his record of scoring in every season and providing an assist in all bar one of his nine campaigns as a senior player for either Montpellier or Marseille.
The former France U21 international has also scored five goals in each of his last two full campaigns, which Tomas Soucek has provided in the Premier League this season after West Ham only saw from Robert Snodgrass deliver five or more among their central midfielders last term and Noble in the 2018/19 campaign.
Sanson is additionally offering Villas-Boas 0.6 shots and 1.1 key passes a game in the French top-flight this term, which would see him rank marginally behind Declan Rice for shots (0.7) and first for key passes (Rice is first currently with 1) among Moyes’ current central midfielders in the Premier League, per SofaScore.
Sanson is further offering far more successful dribbles per game (0.7) than Moyes is seeing from Soucek (0.3) and Rice (0.2), as well as matching Rice for successful tackles (1.9), showing the step up in level the Scottish coach could make his engine room if a deal can be done.
AND in other news, a £4.5m-rated brute was West Ham’s true star of the show vs Burnley.