Considering what Nuno Espirito Santo reportedly wants from a midfielder at West Ham United, one has to wonder if Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo is really the answer.
According to transfer market specialist Ben Jacobs, Nuno wants West Ham to sign a midfielder with real speed across the ground. Specifically, ‘a [number] six or an eight who can go box-to-box’.
Kobbie Mainoo’s Manchester United strugglers haven’t gone unnoticed at the London Stadium. With only 138 minutes of Premier League football to his name this season, West Ham United are keen to position themselves as a potential solution to Mainoo’s fading World Cup hopes.
But while the Carrington kid is a magnificent talent – boasting mesmerising footwork, a wonderful passing range and silky smooth vision – the physical side of the game is where the 20-year-old still has plenty of work to do.
At least, in the eyes of Ruben Amorim.
Given that West Ham have struggled themselves with a lack of athleticism and running power in the centre of the pitch – Nuno made Nottingham Forest a fearsome transitional outfit partly thanks to the dynamism of Elliott Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White – Mainoo, while a wonderful footballer, is maybe not the footballer the Hammers need.
“He has been played in the two in the midfield, which I can see probably doesn’t suit him,” Red Devils legend Paul Scholes said on The Overlap, highlighting Mainoo’s struggles in the sort of central pivot Nuno also tends to deploy.
“I don’t think he is the greatest athlete.”
But if it is pace, ball-carrying and box-to-box athleticism Nuno is looking for – plus an added goal threat – then Ismael Saibari of PSV Eindhoven ticks more boxes than most. More than Mainoo, anyway.
And, according to the man in charge of PSV, Saibari may be better suited to English football than Liverpool’s £116 million Florian Wirtz too.
Ismael Saibari during PSV Eindhoven v Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie
Photo by ANP via Getty Images
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
West Ham United target Ismael Saibari is perfect for the Premier League
While the recent and baffling inclusion of Tomas Soucek and Andy Irving may suggest the opposite, Nuno does prefer quick, aggressive, hard-running players in the middle of the park.
The aforementioned Anderson was a revelation for his Forest side. But Nuno also got the best out of Nicolas Dominguez and the ultra-combative Ryan Yates.
Saibari is more naturally attack-minded than both, though his ball-carrying and his ability to drive through the thirds with an explosion of pace is what will really appeal to the West Ham boss.
Hammers News have been informed, via chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey, that PSV Eindhoven star Saibari is on West Ham’s radar ahead of the January transfer window.
And per Data MB, Saibari ranks in the 98th percentile in European football when it comes to ‘progressive carries’ and the 96th for ‘key passes’.
While he obviously plays in a much weaker league domestically, that Saibari has scored Champions League goals this term against Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen, and previously against Sevilla, Juventus and Liverpool, shows that he can make valuable contributions against top-level teams.
“Ismael is a special person and a special player,” PSV coach Peter Bosz said after Saibari, who has always had a knack for scoring in big games, netted an Eredivisie hat-trick against title rivals Feyenoord in October.
“It’s wonderful to work with him. He has always been in scoring positions, that’s a great quality of his. Now he combines that with a high output.”
Saibari’s end-product has come on leaps and bounds. While always a box-crashing threat with an eye for venomous finishes, his tally of 10 goals from 16 matches in 2025/26 means he is already just five shy of matching last year’s total.
Peter Bosz says Saibari better suited than Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz
Interestingly, and this bodes very well for West Ham, Leeds, Aston Villa, Fulham and the £35 million-rated Saibari’s other UK-based suitors, Bosz feels that the Spain-born Moroccan has the forcefulness and the stamina required to adapt perfectly to the English game.
“If you analyse him, he has a certain physique that you need in England,” Bosz said, likening him favourably to a certain Anfield enigma. “A player like Florian Wirtz, for example, is struggling at Liverpool right now, and that could be partly due to his physique.
“He’s becoming important now by scoring his goals,” adds former Feyenoord captain Karim El Ahmadi , speaking on the Dit was het Weekend podcast. “Saibari is truly a joy to watch. In the Champions League matches, he’s really shown that he can make a huge leap to perhaps the top of Europe.
“Sometimes, you have players you have doubts about. When you see how he plays, he’s strong, technically sound, he has the physicality, he can cover distance, he can finish. I think he has everything it takes to truly play at the top.”
Rene van der Gijp says Saibari will be an Arsenal player
One-time Dutch international Rene van der Gijp, speaking to Vandaag Inside, is ‘absolutely convinced’ that Saibari’s future lies at Arsenal. Speaking of Arsenal, there is a slight Declan Rice-esque quality about the way the 24-year-old picks up possession in midfield and drives towards the penalty area, slaloming past opposition players as if they are markers on a ski slope.
“I think I’m going to be proven right,” Van der Gijp said. “The only one in the PSV squad who’s going to reach the European top is Saibari. Just you wait and see.
“He has so much drive. He has everything a complete midfielder needs. He’s always on the move.”
Ismael Saibari produced one of the finest hat-tricks you’ll see all season over the weekend for PSV 🎩
The Moroccan winger has previously been linked with a move to Arsenal 👀 pic.twitter.com/5RzDd8DoJt
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 27, 2025
View Tweet
Saibari’s hat-trick at Feyenoord – one of the best you will see anywhere in Europe this season – perfectly demonstrates the array of skills at his disposal, as well as highlighting the brawn which should translate well to English football.
His first, a wonderful piece of close control and an outside of the boot finish, reminiscent of Wirtz’s Bundesliga best. His second, a thumping shot with his other, left foot. And for the third, Saibari knocked a desperate Feyenoord defender off balance with his broad-shouldered, prizefighter frame before showcasing the deft touch required to lift it over the advancing goalkeeper.
Van der Gijp may feel his future lies at Arsenal but, if West Ham can find a way to make a deal possible, another claret and blue maverick could potentially join the ranks of Hammers favourites.