A target for Leicester City in January, Wesley Hoedt eventually ended up spending the rest of the season at Lazio, where he gradually established himself as a first-team player under Simone Inzaghi.
The 23-year-old has certainly impressed this season, and Lazio are fully aware of the interest in him, yet don’t particularly want to sell him.
Il Messaggero in Italy report on Thursday that, as well as the offer from Leicester, the Serie A side have received a bid from West Ham, who continue to look for a new centre-back to strengthen their backline.
Wanting to avoid repeats from last season, which saw the Hammers finish a mediocre 11th and concede 64 goals, Slaven Bilic appears to have targeted the Dutch international specifically.
However, the Italian newspaper state the only way Lazio will consider the bids from West Ham and Leicester is if they can tie down Stefan De Vrij a while longer.
Hoedt’s fellow Dutchman has been a target for some rather big clubs in Europe, and Lazio were hoping to cash in on him to kickstart their summer with a nice paycheque.
The problem here is that no one has really come forward as of yet (it’s only the 1st of June, after all), and Lazio are yet to offer De Vrij a new contract as an incentive to stay.
It’s a situation of either/or for Lazio, who appear to be happy to keep one of the two Dutch defenders to go alongside Wallace and Bastos at the heart of the defence.
If Lazio deem it worthwhile to keep De Vrij and offer him a new contract, then West Ham could be in luck.
If they don’t, Bilic might have to look elsewhere.
