While West Ham United are closing in on a deal for Botafogo’s Premier League-bound goalkeeper John Victor, their pursuit of a new midfielder looks set to drag on without much of an end in sight.
Having initially prioritised Mads Hermansen – and despite claims in the Danish press suggesting that West Ham agreed personal terms with Leicester’s glovesman – the impending arrival of John Victor has seen to another barrage of criticism rain down on unpopular chairman David Sullivan.
Sullivan has already let Mohammed Kudus join Tottenham Hotspur this summer, while green-lighting the contentious addition of free-agent 33-year-old Callum Wilson.
Now, claims that West Ham are set to sign John Victor in a deal worth around £8.5 million only adds ammunition to the argument that Sullivan is a man lacking the ambition to take the London giants to the next level.
Fabrizio Romano uttered those three immortal words on Tuesday morning; John Victor to West Ham United, ‘here we go’.
This is not the only deal Romano feels is about to signed, sealed, and about to be delivered, however. Ardon Jashari is a name which can now be scrubbed off Kyle Macaulay’s midfield shortlist, it seems, with the Club Brugge playmaker belatedly on his way to AC Milan.
Club Brugge and Switzerland midfielder Ardon Jashari - FBL-BEL-PROLEAGUE-AWARD
Photo by DIRK WAEM/Belga/AFP via Getty Images
Fabrizio Romano says Ardon Jashari is joining AC Milan after West Ham United snub
According to the Express’ Ryan Taylor, Ardon Jashari ‘politely declined’ West Ham’s offer.
The 2023 Europa Conference League champions had attempted to snatch the Switzerland international out of AC Milan’s clutches when his proposed move to the San Siro appeared to hit the buffers in late-June.
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Jashari only ever planned to leave Club Brugge for an established, so-called ‘elite’ European outfit, however, even if AC Milan have fallen on hard times over the last decade or so.
Romano reiterates the claim that Jashari ‘only ever wanted to join’ the seven-time European champions. A dream which is about to become reality, as AC Milan reach a £34 million agreement with Club Brugge.
🚨❤️🖤 BREAKING: AC Milan agree deal to sign Ardon Jashari from Club Brugge, here we go!
Brugge have just accepted final bid in paper for €39m package and authorized Ardon for medical
After long negotiations, deal done as Jashari only wanted to join Milan project since June. pic.twitter.com/eSBtk7sl5z
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 5, 2025
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Tellingly, on the day when West Ham edged closer to a low-cost, some may say low-ambition, deal for John Victor, the Daily Mail suggested that Graham Potter’s pursuit of a leading midfield target may also be kiboshed for financial reasons.
Fabrizio Romano, Italian sports journalist
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Wilfred Ndidi is Besiktas-bound as West Ham struggle to bring in a new midfielder
While Jashari shut the door on West Ham weeks ago, Hammers News can confirm that Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey remains an active target.
The Mail now back up the information given to Hammers News a few days prior, however. Villa are demanding in excess of £40 million for Ramsey. Like with Hermansen, whose £20 million-plus price-tag also appears a little rich for David Sullivan’s blood, West Ham may find themselves limited to more affordable, somewhat more underwhelming, alternatives.
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott may be too expensive as well. Ditto Southampton’s £30 million-rated Portuguese prancer Mateus Fernandes.
And, while it is understood that reports of talks between West Ham and Juventus are wide of the mark, former Aston Villa ace Douglas Luiz’s is another for whom the costs involved render a deal highly unlikely.
Raphael Onyedika, Jashari’s teammate at Club Brugge, appears to be in no rush to secure a transfer of his own even if the Nigeria international is keen on a Premier League switch.
While West Ham appear to be drifting away from Mads Hermansen, meanwhile, another Leicester player with admirers at the London Stadium is on his way to Turkey.
Both Romano and Ben Jacobs claim that Besiktas are set to sign Wilfred Ndidi for around £8 million.
Jacobs believes that Bilal El Khannouss is under consideration by West Ham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Super Lig outfit too.