West Ham United’s pursuit of a new right-back appears to have been given a boost, with Moussa Wague again left out of Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona squad.
The Hammers had known for months that Pablo Zabaleta was set to swap his studs for slippers and bow out of the beautiful game at the end of 2019/20.
But, three months after the veteran Argentine wrote an emotional farewell to the London giants, David Moyes’ crisis-hit side are yet to sign a suitable replacement for one of the Premier League’s finest ever full-backs.
With just three weeks left in the transfer window West Ham could still be in luck.
Mundo Deportivo reported in July that they had held talks with Barcelona regarding a potential £14 million deal for the speedy Senegal international Wague – a man who also came close to moving to the English capital in the January transfer window.
Reports linking Wague with West Ham have gone a little quiet lately however.
While no one seems to know where the 21-year-old will end up, it seems increasingly unlikely that the youngest African goal-scorer in World Cup history will be battling Nelson Semedo and Sergi Roberto for a place in Koeman’s starting XI when 2020/21 kicks off.
Wague was left out of Barca’s squad for the 3-1 pre-season victory over Girona on Wednesday. He was nowhere to be seen as the kings of Catalonia beat Gimnastic by the same scoreline on Saturday too.
Rafinha, Arturo Vidal and Luis Suarez were also conspicuous by their absence as Barcelona step up their attempts to reduce that crippling wage bill.
West Ham’s record transfers
- Sebastien Haller
£45 million
- Felipe Anderson
£41.5 million
- Marko Arnautovic
£25 million
- Pablo Fornals
£24 million
- Issa Diop
£22 million
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