West Ham find themselves entangled in a transfer triangle with Chelsea and Aston Villa and it is big news for Graham Potter on two fronts.
West Ham have been pleading poverty due to huge losses on the horizon in their next accounts – but Aston Villa are even worse off.
Chelsea meanwhile are in rude health financially having played the PSR game by selling – among other things – their women’s team to their parent company.
While the Hammers are in no imminent danger of a PSR breach, the club insists they cannot sign players this summer transfer window until sales are made.
West Ham suddenly in transfer triangle with Chelsea and Villa
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained last week why Aston Villa are the team most at risk of a PSR breach.
As a result Unai Emery must bite the bullet and sell players to raise around £40m before the end of June.
That has alerted West Ham to a potential deal.
But the problem is Chelsea, who can continue to spend with wild abandon, are also smelling blood.
West Ham are banking on selling Mohammed Kudus for a sizeable fee this summer in order to raise funds for Graham Potter’s much-needed Hammers rebuild.
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According to reports, the Irons have held fresh talks with the Blues about the wantaway Ghanaian.
Chelsea have been mulling signing Kudus from the Hammers since initial discussions two weeks ago.
According to a recent report, West Ham will try and sign Aston Villa star Jacob Ramsey with some of the Kudus money because they see him as the ideal replacement.
The Guardian doubled down on that claim yesterday, stating the Hammers are plotting to leave it as late as possible in June to make their Ramsey bid in the hope of driving down the price as much as possible.
Chelsea plan Villa talks and it’s big news for West Ham
But now Chelsea plan Aston Villa talks over a shock deal and it’s big news for West Ham in more ways than one.
According to a host of reports from multiple outlets, including Chelsea.News, Enzo Maresca wants Morgan Rogers at Stamford Bridge.
Knowing Villa need to raise £40m in the next 11 days, Chelsea are reportedly ready to pull the trigger on signing Rogers the moment they get the green light his transfer is on the table.
Speculation has suggested Rogers would be open to the move which would reunite him with his former Man City academy teammates Liam Delap and Cole Palmer while giving him Champions League football too.
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Shock move will deal double blow to Potter’s West Ham plans
The potential move is a disaster waiting to happen for West Ham and Potter.
Because West Ham are penniless until they sell Kudus or other players.
That means they can’t solve Aston Villa’s PSR problem by signing Ramsey, who has not played as much as he would have liked since Rogers’ emergence.
Chelsea would solve Villa’s problem by signing Rogers for a fee well in excess of that figure.
But that would also be terrible news for West Ham as it would mean the Blues are then highly unlikely to want Kudus.
If Rogers does end up going to Chelsea, West Ham can kiss any hope of Ramsey goodbye.
They can probably also kiss their hopes of getting the £65m they want for Kudus goodbye too.
The Hammers much prefer to sell Kudus to Chelsea over bitter rivals Spurs.
This scenario playing out between Chelsea and Aston Villa will only add to the feeling of despondency around West Ham United right now.
But on the same day this transfer triangle has emerged, West Ham’s owners have sent a bold new message to worried fans as anger grows over their transfer activity.