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Attila Szalai linked with a move to West Ham

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Attila Szalai has been edging closer with a move to West Ham in the January transfer window. The Fenerbahce player has been linked with a number of European clubs. However, the Hammers seem to be confident they can get the deal done.

West Ham United is still in search of a central defender in January and Hungary ace Attila Szalai is on David Moyes’ shortlist.

As spoken by Dharmesh Sheth on Sky Sports’ Transfer Show,

“The Fenerbahce and Hungary defender Attila Szalai attracting interest from the Premier League and Serie A

We’ve been told that West Ham United and Newcastle United are looking at him, AC Milan are looking at him – all three clubs in the market for a central defender.

Last month, actually the Hungary manager Marco Rossi said that he believes Szalai was going to join Chelsea in this transfer window. We still think that there might be a tentative interest there.

What do we know about Szalai? 23 years old, his contract at Fenerbahce runs until 2025, and it’s thought it would take around £12.5-16.5million to sign him. He played every minute of Hungary’s Euro 2020 campaign and he’s a left-footed central defender, which a lot of clubs in world football are after.”

Szalai started his youth career in Rapid Wien and went on to earn senior caps with them. He signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Fenerbahce.

He has 40 appearances for the Turkish side scoring 3 goals for them.

Possiblity of the transfer

West Ham is linked with a number of defenders in this January period due to injuries in the squad. Their key defenders Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna are out for several games this season.

However, Zouma is considered to be very close to a return. Meanwhile, Ogbonna is set to be sidelined for some time.

Moyes is keen on signing a central defender and one player who had been linked was Bournemouth Lloyd Kelly. However, the Cherries are asking for a much higher price. As a result, Szalai is proving to be a much cheaper alternative.

The 23-year-old has impressed at Fenerbahce this season with the Turkish side. So the deal seems to be beneficial for both sides.

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