West Ham have been linked with a former Chelsea star.placeholder image
West Ham have been linked with a former Chelsea star. | Getty Images
Nuno Espirito Santo could look to add experience to his West Ham midfield before the close of the January transfer window.
West Ham are reported to have made another enquiry over the availability of Al-Ittihad midfielder N’Golo Kante as the club continues to look for new recruits this January.
It doesn’t seem that West Ham will stop there with another midfielder wanted at the London Stadium. Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa have turned heads for the right reasons at times this season but could perhaps lack the experience for a relegation dogfight.
West Ham target Chelsea legend to strengthen midfield
One player who certainly knows what it takes to get results in the Premier League is Kante. The French international has made 227 appearances in the top flight, winning the division twice, once with Leicester City and once with Chelsea.
Kante also won the Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup and FA Cup while at Stamford Bridge over an illustrious seven year stay. The 34-year-old completed a move to Saudi Arabia in 2023 but is out of contract at the end of the season.
That has led to transfer talk and West Ham are said to be suitors for the World Cup winner. Transfer specialist Ben Jacobs said: “Kante wants the move. Fenerbahce are the frontrunners, even though I’m told West Ham also made another enquiry in the last 48 hours, but Fenerbahce are leading the race. They’re confident that they’ve got the buy-in from the player, but they’ve still got some work to do with Al Ittihad.”
N’Golo Kante previous West Ham target under Slaven Bilic
West Ham have come close to signing Kante before, with Slaven Bilic a big fan of the player. The Hammers almost completed a deal to sign the player from Caen before he moved to Leicester City in 2015.
At the time, Bilic said: "Yes, we were quite close. I watched him in France. He was a good player, the same player he is now with Leicester.
“He’s not very tall, but he’s one of those players that you think after 20 minutes that there are twins, that there are two of them, because the energy, the cleverness he plays with, he’s always there.
“When you watch a game on television there are players that are always on screen. They are never out, whatever you see, you see them, they are always on television. He’s one of them. That’s not only ability like having big lungs or legs or whatever, the capacity to run, this is in his head.
“So, he was there, but then we got some players in the same positions and it would have simply been too many players for the same position.”
Bilic has also found himself in headlines over recent weeks with the former West Ham manager tipped to be the number one option to replace Nuno in an emergency should the current head coach be sacked at the London Stadium.
Football Insider reported last week that Bilic is ‘ready’ to accept an offer from West Ham should the opportunity arise, having been favourite for the job before Nuno was appointed in September.
In other news, Nuno Espirito Santo's treatment of West Ham player will harm dressing room amid relegation fight.
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