Spezia defender Jakub Kiwior is closing in on a £16 million move to Serie A champions AC Milan after turning down Premier League outfit West Ham United during the summer transfer window, according to FootMercato.
Earlier this month, Jan Bednarek admitted that he held talks with the London Stadium side before joining Aston Villa on loan from Southampton on deadline day.
He is not the only Poland international centre-half who slipped through West Ham’s fingers either.
The Europa League semi-finalists made a £10 million bid for 22-year-old Jakub Kiwior in August. Neither he nor Spezia had any intention of putting pen to paper with the Hammers, however, and the twice-capped centre-back could now be rewarded for his patience with a January switch to one of the biggest and most storied football clubs on the continent.
Serie A champions AC Milan, FM say, are in ‘advanced talks’ with Kiwior’s representatives. The former MSK Zilina man, who moved to Italy just one year ago, will set Milan back around £16 million; far more than West Ham would have paid only a couple of weeks back.
And the Rossoneri will be hoping to tie up a deal before the Qatar World Cup, in the knowledge that a couple of impressive performances from Kiwior on the biggest of stages is likely to increase the interest in his signature. Poland are due to take on Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico in Group C.
West Ham’s one-that-got-away Jakub Kiwior could join AC Milan
West Ham, meanwhile, turned to Thilo Kehrer after giving up on Kiwior. The versatile German arrival, a £10 million arrival from PSG, has impressed in claret-and-blue despite a couple of high-profile errors early in his Premier League career.
Bednarek, meanwhile, will be in line to make his Aston Villa debut after the international break.
“He talked to David Moyes, who invited him to West Ham and said that he needed a centre-back because the defender they had brought for 35 million euros (Nayef Aguerd) had suffered a serious injury,” explains Poland boss Czeslaw Michniewicz.
“And Jan was determined to go there. He wanted to compete with their other centre-backs. West Ham have a lot of games because they also play in the Conference League.
“But then Steven Gerrard called him and the conversation was different. He told him that he would be an important player for him. He used the argument of the World Cup; ‘I know you want to go to the World Cup. You will be playing for me. I also have (Poland team-mate) Matty Cash here, so it’s good for your team’.
“This declaration convinced him.”
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