West Ham United’s interest in Amario Cozier-Duberry has moved from a tidy Championship recruitment idea into a live timing test.
The Sun reports that Leeds United and Hull City are now interested in the Brighton and Hove Albion winger after his productive loan spell at Bolton Wanderers.
West Ham are also named among the clubs keeping tabs on the 21-year-old, alongside Paris FC, Strasbourg and Freiburg.
That wider race matters.
A player who looked like a clever, lower-risk wide option for Nuno Espirito Santo is now becoming the type of deal that can quickly get away from a club still trying to settle its recruitment structure after relegation.
Why Cozier-Duberry Fits The Rebuild Brief
West Ham need wide players who can change the rhythm of Championship matches without forcing the club into Premier League-level wages or inflated fees.
Cozier-Duberry fits that profile neatly: young, left-footed, direct and fresh from a promotion-winning environment.
SportsBoom has reported that he made 33 league appearances and scored eight goals for Bolton last season.
Those numbers show output rather than academy hype.
He was not merely parked on loan to gather minutes. He became a decisive final-third piece in a side that went up.
That is the part West Ham should value most.
Nuno’s attack cannot rely only on established names if Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville or other high-value players continue to draw Premier League interest.
The club need younger runners who can carry the ball, stretch full-backs and survive the physical grind of a 46-game league season.
Read West Ham has already assessed why Abdul Fatawu’s profile offers a cut-price winger route, and Cozier-Duberry fits a similar rebuild lane.
The difference is that this race now looks more crowded.
Leeds And Hull Change The Calculation
Hull’s presence is the most awkward element.
A newly promoted Premier League club can offer top-flight football immediately, and that is a powerful card for a Brighton player trying to prove he is more than a loan-system asset.
Leeds create a different problem.
Their interest would keep Cozier-Duberry in a high-exposure English environment and, depending on Wilfried Gnonto’s future, could offer a direct route into a role built around one-v-one threat.
West Ham may have the size, stadium and promotion ambition, but they cannot afford to drift.
Brighton’s own position also has to be read carefully.
Spotrac lists Cozier-Duberry’s Brighton contract as running until 2028, so this is not a simple free-transfer chase.
The Seagulls can decide whether a sale, another loan or a pre-season assessment best protects his value.
There is also fresh competition inside Brighton’s wide department.
The Sun’s report notes that Brighton have agreed a £21.5million deal for AIK winger Zadok Yohanna, a move that could squeeze Cozier-Duberry’s pathway and make this summer’s decision more urgent.
Nuno Needs Speed, But Not Panic
West Ham’s opening Championship fixture away to Burnley underlines the issue.
This is not a slow-burn rebuild with a gentle runway. The hardest tests arrive immediately, as Read West Ham covered when Burnley became Nuno’s first promotion test.
Cozier-Duberry would not solve every attacking question.
He is still developing, and the step from Bolton’s promotion push to carrying expectation at the London Stadium is significant.
But the logic is strong if the price and structure are sensible.
West Ham have spent much of the summer reacting to exits, ownership noise and recruitment uncertainty.
This is the sort of deal that would show direction: young enough to grow, proven enough to help now, and sharp enough to make Nuno’s attack less predictable.
The risk is not simply missing out on Cozier-Duberry.
The bigger risk is watching a player who fits the brief move elsewhere because West Ham took too long to turn interest into action.
That is why the next move matters as much as the target itself.
If West Ham want the window to look deliberate rather than reactive, Cozier-Duberry is precisely the kind of pursuit that needs early conviction.
