Marseille need to raise money from sales this summer, and Morgan Sanson is one of the players being edged towards the exit door, largely because it’s thought the midfielder has a market in the Premier League.
Around a week ago, Sky Sports claimed Marseille’s sport director Andoni Zubizarreta had been in talks with the player’s agent, trying to build a sale worth €35m. At the time, La Provence, local to the French club, reported West Ham ‘could be the first team to make an offer’ for the 24 year old.
Now a Marseille specialist news source, Peuple Olympien, has pulled the Hammers further in. On Monday afternoon, they claimed the player’s transfer to West Ham is ‘imminent’ for €35-40m.
Something doesn’t seem right with the figures here.
In April it was claimed Wolves had made a €42m verbal offer for the player. That was later denied by sources close to Sanson, and an independent agent rubbished the amount.
Le Phocheen, another Marseille source, thought it was simply too high a figure, and they believed €20-25m would be more realistic.
They quoted an unnamed French agent as saying: “He’s a good midfielder, but I’m not sure he has the physical impact to really interest the Premier League clubs, it seems to me to be a very high price, even if the English are willing to pay sometimes disproportionate transfer fees.”
Unless they lose a player, it doesn’t seem obvious for West Ham to spend so much on a midfielder, and it certainly doesn’t make sense for them to pay so much more than what people in France seem to value Sanson at.
