West Ham United have expressed interest in signing Benfica left winger Andreas Schjelderup, according to Ekrem Konur.
Schjelderup arrived at Benfica from Danish outfit Nordsjaelland in January 2023 and has since recorded seven goals and 11 assists across 64 appearances for the Lisbon side.
The 21-year-old also played a key role in Benfica’s Portuguese League Cup success last season, scoring the decisive goal in the final against rivals Sporting Lisbon.
West Ham have already dipped into the Portuguese market this month, signing Pablo from Gil Vicente on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
While the Brazilian forward, alongside new signing Taty Castellanos, featured in their last game against Nottingham Forest, their influence wasn’t enough to stop the club from suffering their 13th defeat of the season, prompting the club to make further reinforcements.
According to Konur, West Ham have expressed interest in signing Schjelderup as a possible option to reinforce Nuno Espirito Santo’s attack.
The Hammers will need to accelerate efforts to complete the Norwegian’s transfer to the London Stadium, as the report adds that the left winger is also attracting keen interest from several clubs, including Wolverhampton Wanderers, AS Roma, Juventus, Parma, and Beşiktaş.
Swoop
Schjelderup has been an unused substitute in six of Benfica’s last ten games, meaning he’s no longer central to Jose Mourinho’s plans, making a winter move likely. As a result, West Ham will hope a fee in the region of his £12m Transfermarkt valuation should be enough to get the deal done.
West Ham are currently on a nine-game winless run in the Premier League (D4 L5), a sequence that notably saw them gift Wolves their first league win of the campaign. The club last endured a longer drought in the competition between December 2006 and March 2007, when they went 11 matches without victory.
More concerning still was the 3–0 loss at Molineux, where the Hammers failed to record a single effort on target. It marked the third occasion this season they have done so in the Premier League, having also fired blanks against Arsenal and Liverpool.
However, with just two goals and three assists in 21 games this season, concerns remain whether 21-year-old Schjelderup, who is in the developing stages of his career, would be the best option to spearhead their survival battle.
