West Ham United must sell players to buy this summer, and the club is hoping suitors begin to bite the bullet.
There has been a lowball offer from Tottenham Hotspur for Mohammed Kudus, but West Ham rejected it and demanded more.
Meanwhile, West Ham defender Nayef Aguerd has also been subject to interest from Olympique Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, and Atletico Madrid. Nothing has materialised.
However, it appears that newcomers Sunderland are the latest club to show interest in his services after clinching promotion to the Premier League.
Per Santi Aouna of Foot Mercato, “Sunderland have joined the queue to land Aguerd. The Black Cats have fallen under his spell and have taken the temperature.”
It remains unclear whether the player will be keen on leaving West Ham for Sunderland, with Champions League sides like Marseille still in the race for his signature.
Despite already adding Facundo Medina and West Ham target CJ Egan-Riley to the ranks this summer, Marseille will prioritise signing Aguerd.
Also, Aguerd, who earns £35,000 per week, spent the season on loan with Real Sociedad, and they remain interested in keeping him permanently.
The ball is in his court to choose the next club where he wants to ply his trade, but it seems his future is away from East London.
Whatever funds West Ham receive from a potential Aguerd sale should be added to the sum they get from potentially selling the error-prone Konstantinos Mavropanos.
The Hammers should use it to sign a solid defender to the rearguard alongside Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo (view).
The Irons will hope that manager Graham Potter gets the best out of his centre-backs.
They showed signs of cohesion towards the end of the season, but they need to do it for 38 games next term.
More importantly, West Ham desperately need a defensive midfielder to screen that defence. The Irons could use that extra layer of protection to become a more formidable force defensively.