West Ham United and Celtic have been fighting for Shane Duffy's signature for quite a while now. Both sides seem to be prioritising a boost to their defensive lines and the 28-year-old centre-back is the chosen one.

The reports have been going back and forth and it was always going to be a battle between money up front the Hammers were said to be offering and the player's childhood love for the Hoops.

But now, according to the latest report from Daily Record, Celtic have decided to hit the pause button on the Duffy chase in order to finalise the transfer of David Turnbull from Motherwell.

This could indeed be an opening for David Moyes to strike and get the defender in while their rivals are shifting their attention to other targets. Of course, it has to be said that the coach himself has admitted the Hammers don't have a lot of money due to the recent outbreak and it's still questionable if there's enough financial power in the club to scoop up the Brighton and Hove Albion defender.

Here's what he said recently, as quoted by Daily Record: "We’ve got some bright young players and some players who are improving, so if we can add to it, great, but as I’ve reiterated a few times, the owners spent a lot of money over a year ago, and I’m sure we don’t have that amount of money available to spend again."

Verdict

The money might be really tight at the moment but West Ham need defensive reinforcements and with Celtic preoccupied with Turnbull, now is the right time for them to strike a deal with the Premier League centre-back.

Of course, after selling Albian Ajeti to Celtic for around £5m and then offloading Jordan Hugill for another £5m to Norwich, maybe they can use some of those resources and invest them into the right areas.