West Ham trio Thilo Kehrer, Alphonse Areola and Nayef Aguerd
West Ham United look set to lose a defender in the January transfer window, with French side Monaco reportedly the frontrunners to snap him up.
West Ham have enjoyed some great results recently, having beaten Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Arsenal in the Premier League since December 7, while also overcoming Freiburg in the Europa League group stage. It has not all been perfect for David Moyes’ side, as they have also conceded five goals in recent defeats to Fulham and Liverpool, but the Irons have shown great character to brush themselves down after those losses and go again.
A run of three consecutive league wins – during which they have scored seven goals – has seen West Ham move up to sixth in the table. They can cut the gap to the top four down to four points if they win their game in hand.
In order to help this top-four push, as well as the team’s chances of winning the Europa League, several players could be signed by the West Ham hierarchy this month. A centre-forward is the obvious priority, given Michail Antonio’s injury and the fact Moyes does not appear to fancy Danny Ings. West Ham could also probably do with adding a new left-back and right-back to their squad.
One way West Ham could help to fund these new arrivals is by offloading defender Thilo Kehrer. The Germany international arrived at West Ham from Paris Saint-Germain for £10million in August 2022 but has not had the desired impact in England.
With Moyes preferring to use Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Konstantinos Mavropanos at centre-back, Kehrer has mainly had to settle for a place on the bench, especially in the league. Indeed, five of his 12 appearances this season have come in the Europa League.
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Unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old’s lack of game time has led to speculation about him leaving West Ham. On December 13, sources confirmed to TEAMtalk that Eintracht Frankfurt are hoping to engineer a double Prem swoop for Kehrer and Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek.
Frankfurt appear to have been successful in their move for Van De Beek, but Kehrer looks set to head elsewhere. According to Fabrizio Romano, Monaco are in pole position to agree a deal with West Ham for the ex-FC Schalke 04 man.
Monaco ‘confident’ about signing West Ham player
The Ligue 1 outfit are ‘confident’ about landing him ‘very soon’, as talks between them and West Ham are advancing quickly.
Romano adds that other European clubs such as AC Milan, Roma and Atalanta have expressed an interest in Kehrer. However, Monaco are now firmly the ‘favourites’ to make the transfer a reality.
Kehrer will be disappointed with how his spell in East London has worked out. He may have played a part in last season’s Europa Conference League triumph, but he surely would have liked to have forced his way into the first team and become a guaranteed starter.
