West Ham United has taken another step toward adding desperately-needed depth in quality at the London Stadium under David Moyes this summer after agreeing to terms with Ligue 1 outfit LOSC Lille for Belgian international Amadou Onana.
Reports from BBC Sports’ Simon Stone indicate that the Hammers have agreed to offload £33.5m (€40m) to Les Dogues for the 20-year-old defensive midfielder after Onana took to life in northeastern France like a fish to water after his arrival last season from historic German giants Hamburger SV.
It was reported yesterday by Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth that West Ham was keen to push for a deal this summer for the stout midfielder despite Lille already parting ways with Sven Botman earlier in the window when the Dutch international moved to Newcastle United.
Onana is now set to move the needle in West Ham’s midfield contingent, joining Declan Rice, Tomáš Souček, fellow summer signing Flynn Downes, and Connor Coventry, providing David Moyes with necessary depth in the center of the park.
The former TSG 1899 Hoffenheim academy graduate is set to become the fifth signing of the summer at the London Stadium, joining the aforementioned Downes as well as Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd, and Alphonse Areola as new arrivals in the English capital.
Lille has done exceptionally well once more to turn another profit on a key asset having spent just €7m (£6m) on the player last summer, turning an immediate profit of €33m (£27.5m) on an asset that only featured on 42 occasions for the club.
The French outfit also agreed to sell Portuguese international midfielder Renato Sanches to Paris Saint-Germain earlier today for a paltry €15m, stripping the club of three key assets this summer.
Despite the personnel losses, Lille’s books have never been healthier and have now taken their profits in the last five years in the market to over the €300m mark.
As for West Ham, with squad upgrades and depth across the senior squad now being found, Moyes may able to continue to mount a serious challenge to the upper echelon in the Premier League after guiding the club to sixth and seventh in the table in the last two seasons.
