West Ham have made a £30m bid for James Tarkowski after having their first offer for the Burnley centre-back rejected. David Moyes is keen to strengthen his leaky defence and is determined to sign Tarkowski following the controversial sale of Grady Diangana to West Brom. West Ham’s manager is a big admirer of the 27-year-old and hopes to convince Burnley to sell after having an initial offer of £27m turned down.
Although Tarkowski is pushing for a move, it is understood Sean Dyche is relaxed about the situation. Burnley’s manager warned this week that Tarkowski would not be sold “on the cheap” and the club could hold out for as much as £50m for the former Brentford player.
West Ham are under pressure to strengthen their squad after allowing Diangana to go for £18m. The 22-year-old winger’s departure has gone down badly with his former teammates. Mark Noble, West Ham’s captain, tweeted that he was “angry and sad” after the academy graduate’s move was confirmed.
West Ham argue they needed to raise their transfer budget through sales and have promised the money for Diangana will be reinvested in the squad. West Ham, who host Newcastle in their opening Premier League game on Saturday, conceded 62 goals last season and lost 5-3 to Bournemouth in a friendly last weekend.
Tarkowksi is keen to leave Burnley to boost his chances of winning back a spot in the England squad. Leicester have also shown an interest in Tarkowski.
Michy Batshuayi has returned to Crystal Palace on loan after extending his Chelsea contract by 12 months.
Chelsea have handed Batshuayi a one-year extension to protect the striker’s value and stop him from leaving on a free next summer. However the Belgian has no future at Stamford Bridge and he hopes to kickstart his career after linking up again with Palace, who have an option to buy.
“My target is to win a lot of games with the team because Palace is a good team and a dangerous team for the big clubs,” said Batshuayi. “I want to win and to score, to do my job to help the team and I know my team-mates will help me as well.”
Palace manager Roy Hodgson added: “He made a great impact at the club in his previous loan spell, albeit only five months long, displaying a goal scoring threat which we very much needed at that time and we are confident he will produce again.”
Batshuayi, who has struggled to establish himself at Chelsea since his £33m move from Marseille, impressed when he spent the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan at Selhurst Park. The 26-year-old, who has also had loans with Borussia Dortmund and Valencia, scored seven goals in 13 games for Palace. He will hope to play regularly for Palace and earn a spot in Belgium’s squad for next summer’s European Championship.
The deal means Conor Gallagher’s proposed loan to Palace is off, with Premier League teams unable to borrow two players from a club in the same division. The Chelsea midfielder is being targeted by Aston Villa, Leeds and West Brom, who are favourites to sign the 20-year-old.
Fulham have signed the Netherlands right-back Kenny Tete from Lyon for an undisclosed fee. The 24-year-old has a four-year deal, with the club holding an option to extend by a further 12 months. Tete began his career at Ajax before joining Lyon in 2017 and has 13 caps.
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