West Ham told to pay £20m for in-demand striker

West Ham have been told to pay £20m if they want to sign Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony, with Swansea also interested in the forward.

According to the Daily Star, the Hammers have shown strong interest in signing the Ivorian in the summer but would need to pay a club-record fee to do so.

Manchester City signed Bony for £20m from Swansea back in January 2015, but with just ten goals in 40 appearances since and it’s understood that City are willing to let him walk as he doesn’t fit into Pep Guardiola’s plans for next season.

The Hammers came close to signing the 27-year-old once before. After intensive scouting, West Ham were poised to sign Bony for £10m from Vitesse Arnhem, where he scored 53 goals in 73 games for the Eredivisie side.

The decision came down to Sam Allardyce, who opted to sign Andy Carroll for a club-record fee of £15m instead following his season-long loan from Liverpool. Bony ended up joining Swansea and netted 34 goals in 70 games before moving on to Manchester City.

Bony is one of many big-name strikers being linked with a move to East London this summer. The club have launched a club-record £23.5m bid for Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette as they hope to beat Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona to his signature, while Liverpool’s Christian Benteke, Marseille’s Michy Batshuayi and Racing Club’s Gustavo Bou are all on the club’s striker shortlist.