West Ham had an approach knocked back by Marseille for Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi last month. A few weeks on and West Ham are back in talks with the Ligue 1 outfit, but with a different player on the agenda.
According to RMC, via HITC, the Hammers are attempting to negotiate a deal for French winger Georges-Kévin N’Koudou.The 21-year-old is a natural left-winger, capable of playing on the right, and played a key role for Marseille last season, contributed to 15 goals (Ten scored, five assisted) in 41 appearances.
His fine form certainly didn’t go unnoticed, with Merseyside clubs Everton and Liverpool also locked in talks with Marseille.
N’Koudou only arrived at the Stade Velodrome last summer, in a €1.5million move from Nantes, and is under contract until June 2020.
It may appear unlikely that Marseille would consider sanctioning a sale, but the cash-strapped club are under pressure to offload their star players in order to meet DNCG regulations.
Marseille have already budgeted for Michy Batshuayi’s departure in their financial accounts they will present at the end of the month – meaning the Belgian striker will need to be offloaded before July.
However, should they struggle to do so, they could be forced to offload several other players to make up the difference such as N’Koudou, but the Hammers will have to fend off interest from Liverpool and Everton to do so.
