West Ham's offer of an initial £23m plus £10m in potential add ons for the 19-year-old centre-back was rejected by the Ligue 1 club
Friday 25 September 2020 21:32, UK
West Ham are looking at alternative targets after Saint Etienne rejected the club's £33m bid for defender Wesley Fofana.
West Ham offered £23m plus £10m in potential add ons for the 19-year-old centre-back, with the deal structured over six annual instalments.
The Premier League side do not want to engage in a bidding war for Fofana so will now divert their focus to other centre-back targets.
The Hammers are looking to add a centre-back to their ranks this summer and have seen three bids turned down by Burnley for James Tarkowski, who is now in talks with Leicester over a possible deal worth more than £30m.
Leicester had also been in talks to sign Fofana, who has been vocal on social media of his desire to move on from Ligue 1.
Despite signing a new contract in April, Fofana has told Saint-Etienne head coach Claude Puel he wants to leave to play in the Premier League and was left out of the club's matchday squad to play Nantes on Sunday evening.
St Etienne originally wanted £25m for their defender, significantly beyond what Leicester are willing to pay to bring him to the King Power Stadium.
Fofana made 24 appearances for St Etienne in a breakthrough campaign last year, as the team qualified for the Europa League and made the French Cup final.
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