West Ham United made a late attempt to sign Le Havre centre-back Arouna Sangante, according to TEAMtalk.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side was one of the most active sides in the recently concluded winter transfer window, as his side made several incomings to aid their relegation battle.
Attacking reinforcement has taken centre stage with Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe from Lazio and Gil Vicente, respectively. At the same time, Venezuelan wonderkid Keiber Lamadrid also joined on loan from Deportivo La Guaira, while Adama Traore signed from Fulham to reunite with his former manager.
In defence, the departure of Igor Julio back to his parent club, Brighton & Hove Albion, necessitated the need for a new centre-back.
On deadline day, the club reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign French international Axel Disasi on a six-month loan deal to reinforce Nuno’s backline.
However, it appears the Hammers explored other centre-back options prior to signing Disasi, as TEAMtalk claims that West Ham came close to signing Le Havre’s Sangante in the last week of the recently concluded winter transfer market.
The club viewed the Senegalese as a future investment following his standout displays in Ligue 1 and were keen on getting the deal done last summer after holding advanced talks, according to the report.
Attempt
However, TEAMtalk adds that despite keen interest from West Ham’s hierarchy, head coach Nuno refuted the move and instead requested a more Premier League-proven centre-back, which led to the signing of Disasi on deadline day.
While a move for Sangante, valued at £6m by Transfermarkt, did not materialise, he remains an attractive option to West Ham, who are expected to ‘revisit’ the move for the 6ft 2in star next summer. However, they’ll have to battle stern competition from Brentford, Brighton and Leeds United, the report adds.
With fewer than 15 Premier League games left, Nuno will hope Disasi’s addition will help bring the much-needed cohesiveness and combativeness to his backline.
West Ham have let more points slip from winning situations than any other team in the Premier League this season, with 18 dropped so far. On seven occasions — the joint-highest figure in the league — the Hammers have failed to see out a match after taking the lead (D3 L4), most recently squandering a two-goal advantage before falling to a 3-2 defeat against Chelsea.
With a trip to Turf Moor to face fellow relegation battlers Burnley coming next, the Hammers will hope to extend their unbeaten run against the Clarets to 16 games by avoiding another defeat.
