Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion are among the clubs chasing Hammarby IF star Bazoumana Touré.
On October 17th, Expressen reported Crystal Palace are preparing a bid to get ahead of the competitors. A week later, Fotbollskanalen stated Aston Villa, West Ham and Brighton are leading the ‘hunt’ for the forward.
Claims of Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and West Ham’s interest in the 18-year-old is relayed by Göteborgs-Posten.
As well as the Premier League sides, Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen are showing interest in him. These clubs are said to be looking at Touré for January and there’s been talks of a club-record sale.
Touré has regularly impressed for Hammarby since joining them from Ivorian side ASEC Mimosas in March. He scored nine goals and registered four assists from 21 games. At the weekend, he managed a brace and an assist in his side’s 3-0 win over IK Sirus.
Hammarby captain Nahir Besara has now responded to the reports linking the youngster to Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, West Ham and other clubs.
“There are a lot of rumours about him to extremely big clubs, but we all see how hard he has worked and how good he is. We are very happy as long as we can keep him here,” he said, relayed by Göteborgs-Posten.
The Ivorian’s contract lasts until December 2028. Hammarby manager Kim Hellberg had a chat with Fotbollskanalen, where he backed Touré to make a move to a top league.
“I think he can play at the highest level possible. I don’t see why he shouldn’t have the chance to get there. There have been many players who have had the opportunity to get there but have not taken that route,” Hellberg explained.
“He is unique in the way he learns things and picks things up. Now he scored two goals on his head… and we have worked so much on how he should get into the box and how he should position himself to create advantages linked to the fact that he is not a big player.”
Without mentioning any clubs, the manager was asked about the Premier League links. He said: “I would almost be surprised if it didn’t. There we are somewhere.”
