Saint-Etienne head coach Eirik Horneland says West Ham target Lucas Stassin “will stay” despite the French club being relegated to the second tier.
The Hammers were hoping to secure the Belgian’s signature for around €22m (£19m) but Horneland believes that the forward would benefit by remaining with his current team:
“I expect Lucas Stassin to be there next season, of course. I think he will stay. I think he will stay because he is a very good player, he is 20 years old, he has a long contract with us, and we spent a lot of money to have him with us.
Most Read on Hammers Headlines
“He played top football over the last six months with us. Before that, he was struggling in Ligue 1. I think he had a great end to the season and he must build on that. He has a contract [until the summer of 2028]. It does not depend on him, it depends on us.”
Stassin has drawn comparisons to an ex-Chelsea and Man United striker
The 20-year-old came through Anderlecht’s academy, much like Belgium’s all-time top scorer Romelu Lukaku and there are some similarities between the two.
It is fair to say, though, that Stassin is still a work in progress and there are doubts over whether he could immediately make the leap to leading the line for a Premier League club at his age.
West Ham have looked at many forwards
Signing a new new no.9 is a top priority for head coach Graham Potter and head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay but Stassin is by no means the only striker who has been targeted.
Stade de Reims’ Adama Bojang, Al-Nassr’s Jhon Duran, and Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade are just some of the names that have been considered. However, moves for soon-to-be free agents Callum Wilson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have been ruled out.
In other news, Arsenal are weighing up an approach for a West Ham winger