West Ham United want Odilon Kossounou but face a battle with Premier League rivals Fulham and Leicester City for his signature.
The Hammers splashed the cash on Nayef Aguerd this summer, but the Moroccan ace suffered an injury in pre-season.
With Issa Diop offloaded to Fulham and Angelo Ogbonna still out, West Ham remain in the market for defensive additions.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Thilo Kehrer appears to be a top target, with his versatility to play across the back line seemingly valued highly.
That may well be the case with Kossounou too, who is now being linked with a move to East London.
West Ham United want Odilon Kossounou
The Sun’s Alan Nixon reports via Patreon that West Ham are showing an interest in Bayer Leverkusen defender Kossounou.
It’s stated that Leverkusen are surprisingly willing to sell Kossounou just a year since signing him for £25million from Club Brugge last summer.
Formerly of ASEC Mimosas in his native Ivory Coast and Hammarby in Sweden, Kossounou showed huge potential in Belgium.
Leverkusen were more than happy to swoop in, with sporting director Simon Rolfes hailing Kossounou as ‘extremely quick’ and he featured 33 times in all competitions last season.
Yet it’s now suggested that Premier League clubs are on red alert because they have heard that Leverkusen may be willing to sell.
West Ham, Fulham and Leicester City are allegedly ‘shocked’ that a talent of Kossounou’s stature is available this summer and all three want to sign him.
The 21-year-old has experience at centre back and right back, offering similar versatility to Kehrer.
Kossounou stands at 6ft 3in tall and is better utilised as a central defender than on the right side at this stage in his development.
We would expect Kehrer to be a more likely signing for West Ham at this stage but Kossounou is a name to keep an eye on if Leverkusen really are interested in selling.
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