West Ham transfer target Jack Grealish will be made available on loan this summer by Manchester City, according to reports.
TBRFootball claim the England international, who cost the Cityzens £100m four years ago, will be allowed to leave the Etihad on a temporary basis.
However, Grealish’s wages remain a “huge problem” for any team wanting to secure his services before the end of the transfer window.
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In addition to the Hammers, it is believed that Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and his former team, Aston Villa, would be interested in signing the winger but an agreement on personal terms is unlikely.
How much is Grealish earning?
Capology claim that the 29-year-old is taking home £300,000 a week, which makes him the joint third-highest earner at City. In contrast, the most that West Ham pay is the £150,000 a week that captain Jarrod Bowen and Luca Paqueta earn.
For that reason, the Irons would need his current club to pay a sizeable portion of his salary for a loan to be a realistic possibility.
West Ham would need to offload a forward first
Another important factor is that Graham Potter would have to free up space in his squad. Currently, the Hammers have five wingers: Bowen, Luis Guilherme, Mohammed Kudus, Crysencio Summerville, and Maxwel Cornet (who will return from his injury-hit spell with Genoa).
There is believed to be plenty of interest in Kudus but no team has so far stepped up to make a formal bid, while there are believed to be suitors for Guilherme in Saudi Arabia. Trying to find a buyer for Cornet will be a challenge. The Ivorian still has two years left on his contract at the London Stadium and the club may have to explore terminating his current deal or finding a team prepared to take him for a modest fee.
In other news, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that a striker will join West Ham on July 1st