West Ham could be set to lose promising young forward Sonny Perkins this summer because of a disagreement over his wage demands.
The 18-year-old made three appearances for the Hammers last season and showed his potential as a goalscorer by netting 12 times for the club’s Under-23s. He is now increasingly likely to leave West Ham when his contract expires at the end of June which has attracted the interest of other Premier League clubs.
Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds United and Aston Villa are all said to be keen in singing Perkins this summer, with the latter two clubs both reportedly entering talks with him over a potential move according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano. The teenager is believed to be asking West Ham for too much money that they would be willing to part with to sign a new deal, with the club unlikely to break their wage structure to keep him at the London Stadium.
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Perkins began his career at Leyton Orient before joining West Ham in 2019 as a member of their Under-15s. He has since progressed up the ranks before he made his senior debut during the Hammers’ victory over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League group stages, coming off the bench as a 78th-minute substitute.
He was then awarded his full debut by David Moyes against Dinamo Zagreb and made his Premier League debut as a sub in a 3-2 home defeat to Leeds United in January. Perkins has also featured regularly for England at youth level, playing for the Under-18s and scoring in consecutive games against Russia and the Netherlands last Autumn.
Following his top-flight debut against the Whites, recently-retired West Ham captain and club legend Mark Noble said: “Sonny is someone that I’ve watched for a long time now. He started in the No.10 role and he’s moved up to the centre-forward role for the U23s, and scored a lot of goals. His hold-up play is superb.”
“He is another young, exciting player that we’ve got at the club and hopefully he can keep producing performances in the U23s. When he comes up with us, I hope he can continue to train well and gets into our first team.”
