West Ham pull out of race to sign Lille striker Jonathan David despite meeting Lille’s £30million transfer price
WEST HAM have pulled out of the race to sign Lille striker Jonathan David after being asked to pay £10million in agent fees.
SunSport has learned that West Ham were willing to meet Lille’s £30m asking price for the Canadian international.
But the Hammers refused to meet demands for agent fees totalling a third of the player’s transfer value.
David is set to leave Lille this summer after entering the last 12 months of his contract.
West Ham are amongst several Premier League clubs interested in his services, along with Chelsea and Newcastle.
The 24-year-old has scored 84 goals in 183 appearances for Lille and also played a starring role in helping Canada to the semi-finals of this summer’s Copa America.
New West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui is targetting a new striker after completing the £40m signing of Max Kilman from old club Wolves last month, but his bosses are refusing to make the deal happen.
West Ham have made a concerted effort to keep spending on agent fees down in recent years and paid £13.8m to intermediaries last season, way behind table topping Chelsea at £75m.
West Ham are now understood to be prioritising a move for Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran, with the Colombian international available for around £35m.
The Londoners are also joined by Tottenham as the most likely suitors for Brentford’s Ivan Toney.
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The Bees are ready to slash their asking price to less than £50m due to a lack of interest.
Arsenal are not prioritising signing a striker this summer, Chelsea think Toney is too old and United have signed £36.5m Holland striker Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna.