West Ham United have been dealt a huge blow in their bid to bring Kalvin Phillips to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to a claim made by ExWHUemployee, who suggested in a recent post on The West Ham Way that David Moyes submitted a £50m offer for the Leeds United midfielder, however, the bid was rejected out of hand by Marcelo Bielsa's side.
The club insider did not actually mention Phillips by name in his update, but did go on to state that The Sun would be breaking the story later on Saturday evening, which the newspaper subsequently did - confirming the Hammers' late-in-the-window approach for the England international.
In his post, Ex said: "We believe the 'mystery' £50m bid was not for Raphinha. We did bid for him but the £50m was for another player. This name is set to break in The Sun and we will leave them to deal with the reaction.
"The deal won't happen now [but] could be revisited in the summer - so, at the moment, it is a little irrelevant as anything could happen by then.
"It does paint a strange light of our strategy in this window but stands by the claim [that] Moyes only wants top players - and he has stated in public he likes this player.
"We expect to continue talks with players to sign this window but this is going to go right down to the deadline."
Fans will be livid with Moyes
While it is undeniable that Kalvin Phillips would make a fantastic addition to Moyes' West Ham squad, the 26-year-old is neither a natural centre-back nor a centre-forward - the two positions in which it is imperative the 58-year-old must strengthen prior to Monday's transfer deadline if he is to give his side any hope of securing a top-four finish in the league this season.
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Indeed, a move for the £36m-rated midfielder could well be preempting Declan Rice's departure at the end of the season, with the defensive midfielder having been heavily linked with a £100m move to Manchester United this summer.
If this is the case, a move for Phillips does make sense, although, with Rice looking set to remain at the club until the end of the current campaign at the very least, it would appear a much more intelligent move for Moyes to sign players in the positions which desperately require reinforcements this month, before moving for a potential Rice replacement if the England international does end up leaving East London in the summer transfer window.
Indeed, if the 58-year-old fails to bring in a new centre-back and centre-forward prior to the closure of the January market, he would appear to be severely damaging the Irons' chances of qualifying for Champions League football next season - an outcome that would undoubtedly leave the London Stadium faithful livid with their manager.
In other news: "In talks…": Sheth drops huge January transfer update, he's finally what West Ham need