Report: West Ham plan £18m bid for Nice winger Allan Saint-Maximin

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After links with PSG’s Javier Pastore and Lazio’s Felipe Anderson, Premier League West Ham have a new target.

West Ham United might have just found an affordable alternative to both Javier Pastore and Felipe Anderson.

It is understood that new Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini wants to bring in a new creative spark this summer but deals for PSG and Lazio stars are in doubt.

According to The Sun, Pastore’s wage demands are simply too high while Anderson, the lightning fast Brazilian winger who has lit up Serie A, would cost £34 million, £10 million more than West Ham paid for current record signing Marko Arnautovic.

And that is where Allan Saint-Maximin comes in. The Sun adds that West Ham have turned their attention towards the France U21 speedster and an £18 million bid is now being considered.

Saint-Maximin moved to Nice from Monaco last summer for £9 million after loan spells at Hannover and Bastia, scoring five goals and setting up nine more as Lucian Favre’s side finished eighth in Ligue 1.

The 21-year-old is a raw talent with plenty of rough edges but he boasts the fearsome pace, crowd-pleasing skill and improving end product to blossom into a real star under Pellegrini, a man renowned for getting the best out of talented attackers.

Interestingly, West Ham have also been heavily linked with Saint-Maximin’s Nice team-mate, the on-loan Barcelona defender Marlon Santos. But Football London reports that West Ham can only afford one big-money centre-back and they appear to have chosen Alfie Mawson instead.