David Moyes should be happy to pay the £21.5m fee that West Ham United could have to pay in order to sign VfB Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic this summer.
What’s the word?
According to Kicker, via Sport Witness, Stuttgart are setting the market for Kalajdzic at €20m to €25m (£17-21.5m) as his name starts to hit transfer shortlists all around Europe.
The Bundesliga outfit are open to the fact they will have to sell some of their star players at the end of the season to fund arrivals, as Sporting Director Sven Mislintat strives to take the Mercedes-Benz Arena natives to the next level.
Kalajdzic has been in sensational form under head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo this term, netting 13 goals in 24 Bundesliga games – including eight in his last seven outings – to help fire Stuttgart to eighth in the table during their first year back in Germany’s top-flight.
His efforts are said to have put West Ham’s scouts on alert whilst Moyes strives to discover the eventual heir to Sebastien Haller, having opted against replacing the Ivory Coast forward during the winter market following his £20m move to AFC Ajax.
Other unnamed Premier League clubs are also keen on Kalajdzic, who has admirers at RB Leipzig and Serie A outfit AS Roma, but the 23-year-old is refusing to be drawn on speculation on his future.
“I am not concerned with this. I can well imagine an extension of the contract,” he told Kicker.
Kalajdzic is currently not scheduled to become a free agent until the summer of 2023, with his £7,500-per-week terms still having two more years to run.
Should West Ham sign Kalajdzic?
West Ham certainly appear to be emerging as a potential landing spot for Kalajdzic should the striker prove to be one option Stuttgart cash in on this summer, after recent reports claimed he was viewed as a cheaper alternative to Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Slavia Prague’s Abdallah Sima.
A potential £21.5m asking price would not be overtly cheap, given the Irons passed up on paying Stade de Reims €15m (£13m) for Boulaye Dia in January, yet Kalajdzic should not be scrubbed from thinking at the London Stadium.
The Stuttgart star has been setting Germany’s top-flight alight during his first year in the Bundesliga and struck two of his recent goals against Bayer Leverkusen despite losing 5-2 away to the Champions League qualifying hopefuls.
He also netted against Eintracht Frankfurt to put a dent in the Deutsche Bank Park natives’ top-four hopes and struck the equalising effort in a 1-1 draw with Leverkusen in October, as he lives up to the billing of being “important offensively” in the eyes of Mislintat.
Dia was rightfully overlooked in the winter market despite having 12 goals in 17 Ligue 1 games to his name by January 9th, as the 24-year-old has since failed to find the back of the net in any of his subsequent 10 French top-flight outings.
After scoring on the first day of the campaign away to title-hopefuls Monaco, Dia has also failed to fire home against a top side, instead, he's been bullying the middle of the table and bottom-half clubs.
Kalajdzic may be just as unproven in England as Dia, but he is proving in Germany that he is worth taking a punt on once the transfer market re-opens for business this summer.
AND in other news, West Ham in four-way Premier League battle for 13-goal striker who is “annoying to the defender”…