West Ham United can still sign Craig Dawson from Championship outfit Watford, with the Hertfordshire Mercury reporting that the defender has been told he is free to leave Vicarage Road.
With the transfer window slamming shut across Europe, any hopes the Hammers had of landing James Tarkowski, Jonathan Tah or Nikola Milenkovic have gone up in smoke.
Fortunately, Premier League clubs are free to do deals with their Championship counterparts until October 16.
And, suddenly, the experienced Dawson might have become one of the most in-demand footballers on British soil.
Despite suffering relegation with both West Brom and Watford in the last two years, the £5.5 million man still has plenty of top-flight admirers.
Although, with Fulham landing Joachim Andersen and Tosin Adarabioyo on deadline day, the smart money is on Dawson wearing claret and blue instead before next Friday’s deadline.
The Guardian (5 October, live blog, 10.30am) reported that West Ham would turn to the Lancashire-born 30-year-old after being priced out of a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Germany international Tah.
Interestingly, Dawson has not made a single Championship appearance since Vladimir Ivic took over at Watford and was nowhere to be seen during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to early pacesetters Reading.
The Hornets stopper has been told that he is free to leave now, after the arrival of William Troos-Ekong pushed him even further down the pecking order.
Dawson is not the most thrilling of signings but he would add plenty of experience to West Ham’s backline, while offering cover at centre-half and right-back.
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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