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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tom Clark

West Ham prioritise striker as David Moyes looks to seal deal before transfer window shuts

West Ham are looking to France to solve their striker problems with former Premier League attacker Rhys Healey attracting their interest.

The Hammers are targeting a striker to challenge Michail Antonio for his starting spot and Healey could fit that bill.

The Toulouse striker has 13 goals in 18 matches in the French second tier so far this season and 27 in 50 in total since his transfer to France in 2020.

Healey, 27, had a six-year spell with Cardiff City, including two seasons in the Premier League, before dropping down the divisions to play for a handful of lower league clubs.

After a successful couple of seasons with MK Dons, the striker transferred to Toulouse and has been in fine form for them.

West Ham have been looking for a second striker since Sebastien Haller departed in January 2021 and along with Healey, the club are also interested in Reims forward Hugo Ekitike.

Earlier in the transfer window, Newcastle were in talks with Reims over a move for Ekitike but these broke down over the make-up of the transfer fee according to Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot

"It is true that many [clubs] now realise the qualities of the player, but not us. He was trained with us and what he does not surprise us," he said.

"Newcastle positioned themselves, we discussed it, [and] they made a proposal which does not suit us. As we don't necessarily want to see him leave, we have set the bar quite high.

"They offered us €35m (£29.1m) in total but with many bonuses, some of which were almost impossible to achieve - like, for example, winning the Champions League. We want €30m (£24.9m) fixed plus €10m (£8.3m) in realisable bonuses."

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