Could West Ham or Southampton sign Nicolai Muller for free this summer

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Nicolai Muller will now leave Hamburg in the summer with Premier League duo West Ham United and Southampton long-time admirers.

If West Ham United and Southampton are still keen to bring Nicolai Muller to the Premier League, now is the time to act.

Bild claimed in July that the top flight duo were both interested in the lively Hamburg winger. But, despite having just a year left on his contract and being valued at a rather affordable £9 million, the perennial Bundesliga strugglers refused to let Muller leave during the summer.

Looking back, however, they might have been better off cashing in. Muller hasn’t featured since the opening day of the season, suffering a cruciate ligament injury while celebrating a winning goal against Augsburg.

Typical Hamburg.

And now Bild are reporting that the club’s supervisory board have blocked any attempts to tie down Muller to a new deal with Hamburg in dire financial straits.

As such, West Ham and Southampton can both open talks about signing the former Mainz winger on a free at the end of the season.

Of the two Premier League clubs, Southampton looks a better fit.

After all, Mauricio Pellegrino’s side are lacking goals, pace and creativity, made clear in the dour 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, and are in need of a dynamic attacking presence like Muller to add some cutting edge to a toothless forward line.

The 30-year-old scored and assisted 25 goals in the last two Bundesliga seasons.

West Ham, however, have an in-form Marko Arnautovic to call upon and can also field Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio in attack. Inter Milan loanee Joao Mario, meanwhile, wants to make his move to West Ham permanent in the summer, according to Calciomercato.