West Ham are looking to ramp up their summer rebuild with an ambitious move for Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott. The London club are close to completing the signing of the Slavia Prague left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf and want to make further additions after boosting their budget with the £54.5m sale of Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham.
Kudus’s departure leaves room for West Ham to bring in an attacking midfielder and they have identified Elliott as a key target. The 22-year-old starred for England Under-21s during their triumphant European Championship campaign last month, scoring five goals in six games, and has suggested that he may consider his future at Liverpool because of his lack of regular starts.
West Ham are yet to submit a bid for Elliott and it remains to be seen how much Liverpool would want for the former Fulham player. Preparations for a move are being conducted, though, and there is optimism at West Ham that a deal will be possible. RB Leipzig have also been credited with an interest in Elliott, who can play in a range of positions across the front line. Liverpool may regard this as the right time to cash in on the player but there are obvious sensitivities around their transfer plans following the death of Diogo Jota.
Potter, who was hired in January, is looking to freshen up his squad. West Ham’s manager wants young, hungry, dynamic players and is also focusing on lifting the atmosphere in the dressing room. Kyle Macaulay is heading up the club’s recruitment after joining from Chelsea and is looking to be creative with his signings.
Elliott, who can play wide and in the middle, joined Liverpool in 2019 and has found it difficult to establish himself as a regular starter despite offering flashes of quality. Only two of his 18 appearances in the league last season were starts. Arne Slot has plenty of options in attack and has been unable to find an obvious spot for him. West Ham’s current options on the flanks include Jarrod Bowen, Luis Guilherme and Crysencio Summerville, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
West Ham, who are also considering the Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton, will also look further afield for signings. They opened talks with Slavia over Diouf last month and negotiations over a deal worth £22m plus £5m in add-ons are almost complete.
Diouf, who can play as a left-back or a left wing-back, impressed for Senegal in their victory over England last month. The move for the 20-year-old will raise doubts over the future of Emerson Palmieri.
Potter is toying with the idea of using a 3-4-2-1 system, heightening the need for him to have defenders who can function as wing-backs. West Ham already have Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the opposite flank.
West Ham had to sell to buy but are pushing on with their plans after losing Kudus. They will also look to bring in a goalkeeper, a left centre-back, two central midfielders and a striker. They are keen to make further sales and are open to offers for Nayef Aguerd, Edson Álvarez, Guido Rodríguez and Niclas Füllkrug.
