Sunderland are interested in signing West Ham United midfielder Pierre Ekwah on loan.
The former Nantes and Chelsea youth is said to be on the Black Cats radar this January and football.london understands that at present it is only interest. Ekwah is highly-rated at West Ham but he is yet to make his senior debut for the club and at 21-years-old a loan move to gain first-team experience would make sense.
The youngster, who previously spent three years at the Clairefontaine Academy, which helped develop French stars Nicolas Anelka, Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry and many others, signed for the Hammers U21s from Chelsea’s academy in July 2021.
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So far, Ekwah has played 38 times for the Irons' development squad, scoring eight goals and providing two assists. He has also been involved in several matchday squads for the first-team, but is yet to play a single minute for the senior side.
Ekwah got his first taste of involvement with the senior set-up for the Premier League fixture against Norwich City at the London Stadium in January last year, and again for the FA Cup fifth round clash at Southampton. This season, Ekwah was named in the matchday squad for both Europa Conference League qualifying matches against Viborg, but did not come off the bench.
During the World Cup break, the young midfielder featured in a first-team friendly against Cambridge United at Abbey Stadium in early December. Ekwah came off the bench and scored the Hammers' fourth goal in a 4-2 win.
According to The Sun (via Football League World ), Tony Mowbray is looking to strengthen his Sunderland squad with the addition of box-to-box midfielder Ekwah. If a deal is completed, Ekwah would be the second West Ham youngster to join the Black Cats this season.
Defender Aji Alese made a permanent move to the Championship side last summer. The 22-year-old has been hampered by injuries of late, but the former West Ham academy graduate was a regular in the Sunderland squad, playing 12 league games and scoring his first senior goal in a 2-2 draw at Watford in September.
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