As soon as it was announced that West Ham were selling Sébastien Haller to Ajax, Moussa Dembélé became a target for the Hammers.
This came from RMC Sport journalist Loic Tanzi, who took to social media to reveal the Premier League club had started working on a deal for the Lyon player two days prior, clearly knowing full well the Ivory Coast international was on his way out.
However, they aren’t the only club in need of a striker this January transfer window, as Atlético Madrid, who cut Diego Costa’s contract short six months early, are also on the market, as explained by L’Equipe on Friday morning.
Well, if Marca are to be believed, it’s the La Liga side who are going to win the race to sign him, as the Spanish newspaper states they have ‘finally opted for the Frenchman’ (the other option was Willian José) and he will be arriving on loan.
Dembélé ‘will arrive without a mandatory purchase option’, and negotiations with Lyon for a future transfer will depend on how he performs once he recovers from his fractured arm.
While this isn’t a done deal yet, Marca say ‘everything indicates that it could be imminent’.
This means West Ham will have to look elsewhere if they want to find a Haller replacement, with Graziano Pellè touted earlier on by the Italian media.
