West Ham United are interested in a deal to bring Memphis Depay to the London Stadium this summer.

What's the talk?

Speaking on a recent episode of The West Ham Way podcast, ExWHUemployee suggested that, with interest growing in David Moyes' first-choice centre-forward target Armando Broja, the 59-year-old manager could turn his focus in the transfer window towards the Barcelona forward.

Ex went on to state that the 28-year-old could be available for as little as £17m this summer - a figure SPORT reported earlier this year - something that would appear to make the Netherlands international a very attainable target for the Irons ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Regarding the club's potential interest in Depay, the Hammers insider said: "Another one to look at is Memphis Depay of Barcelona. He's apparently available for £17m. He's obviously going to have loads of clubs after him and his agent is said to have turned down a lower-ranked English team recently.

"I don't know if 'lower ranked' would characterise West Ham, but it wouldn't surprise me, if other forward options like Broja don't start to come into play soon, we will be trying to see what the deal with Depay is saying. Obviously, Broja is the main target, but it's come out that Newcastle are going to be in the mix again."

Dream Broja alternative

While it is undeniable that Broja would be a fantastic signing for Moyes to get over the line this summer, should West Ham be unsuccessful in their pursuit of the in-demand 20-year-old, Depay would undoubtedly be something of a dream alternative to the Albania international.

Indeed, despite slipping down Barcelona's attacking pecking order following Xavi's appointment at the Camp Nou last November - starting just eight league fixtures under the management of the 42-year-old - the £34m-rated talent still managed to impress over his 28 appearances in LaLiga, scoring 12 goals, registering two assists and creating five big chances, as well as taking an average of 2.2 shots, making 1.6 key passes and completing 1.6 dribbles per game.

These metrics saw the £158k-per-week forward who Liam Canning dubbed "unreal" average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.26, not only ranking him as La Blaugrana's fourth-best performer in the league but also as the joint tenth-best player in the division as a whole.

The 29-year-old also impressed over his six appearances in the Champions League last time out, creating two big chances for his teammates, in addition to making an average of 2.8 key passes, taking 1.0 shots and completing 2.5 dribbles per outing - with these returns seeing him average a SofaScore match rating of 7.13.

As such, considering his European experience, deadly nature in the final third and extremely reasonable asking price, it would very much appear as if Depay would represent a fantastic piece of business for Moyes this summer - leading us to believe that, should Broja not end up making a move to east London, the 59-year-old must sanction a swoop for the Dutchman ahead of 2022/23.

AND in other news: Moyes given green light for "indispensable" £12m West Ham signing, it'd be a huge coup