Director admits he has rejected £25m West Ham bid but will ‘consider’ sale

Follow us on Google Discover

Southampton’s director of football Jason Wilcox has confirmed that the Saints have ‘rejected’ West Ham United’s opening bid of £25 million for England international James Ward-Prowse.

You would have been forgiven for assuming that, after suffering relegation last season, Southampton’s star players would be flooding out the door; something of a DFS-esque, ‘everything must go’ firesale taking place at St Mary’s.

But the fact that Romeo Lavia, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Mohammed Salisu, Carlos Alcaraz and the aforementioned James Ward-Prowse are all still Southampton players with their Championship opener just a fortnight away is, on one hand, proof of how determined the Saints are to keep their best players and, on the other, a reflection of the fact that the bids received so far have fallen well short of their demands.

Southampton reject West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse bid

West Ham, per the Daily Mail, submitted an opening offer of £25 million for Ward-Prowse this week. Given that Southampton value their talismanic skipper at closer to £40 million, however, it’s fair to say both parties remain poles apart as things stand.

“Have we rejected the bid? Yep,” Wilcox, Southampton’s director of football, tells The Sun’s Jack Rosser.

Speaking via the Daily Echo, Wilcox accepts that the Saints may ‘consider’ selling the likes of Ward-Prowse and Lavia should their asking-price be met. As of yet, however, West Ham are yet to improve on their initial lowball offer.

“Not as I know,” Wilcox adds when asked if West Ham have made a new bid. “I think, when a club makes an offer, very rarely is it their full and final offer.

“There is a lot of speculation in the media but we’re trying to not get bogged down in all of that. If you start reading every article, supporters and staff, you’d think we won’t have any players!

“It’s football, but being transparent and aware that we have asset value and players other clubs want. And players want to go and play in the Premier League.

“If we get the right offer, we will consider it. ‘Consider’ is an important word because we don’t have to sell. We’ve got a lot of asset value and it’s about how we rebuild the squad.”