With just two weeks until the transfer window slams shut, West Ham United are reportedly battling to sign a midfield reinforcement up against Premier League rivals and Saturday evening's victors Aston Villa.
West Ham transfer news
It's quite fitting that the Hammers squared off against Aston Villa to open their Premier League campaign, given that they've been doing battle all summer in negotiations for Jhon Duran. The young forward posed with a Hammers sign on Instagram Live earlier in the window, only to score the winner on Saturday as the Villans took all three points from the London Stadium.
Since taking their battle to the pitch, the two clubs could now be set to run into each other in the transfer market once more before the window slams shut at the end of the month. The two busiest Premier League clubs on the transfer front, West Ham have more than played their part, signing the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Max Kilman.
Their next race looks set to take them to Turkey. According to Takvim, West Ham are set to battle Aston Villa in the race to sign Ernest Muci, who Besiktas value at €14m (£12m). Earlier reports even suggested that Villa were negotiating a deal which would see Lucas Digne head to Besiktas in a player-plus-cash deal.
Now, however, West Ham's emergence could complicate things, with those at the London Stadium eyeing up the chance to win the race for the 23-year-old attacking midfielder.
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It's no real surprise that Muci has attracted such admirers, given how impressive he was at Legia Warsaw in the first half of the campaign and the glimpses of quality that he has shown since joining Besiktas in the winter transfer window.
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If West Ham want to help new arrival Niclas Fullkrug hit the ground running then signing an attacking midfielder in the form of Muci is certainly the way to do it. The 23-year-old, for both Legia Warsaw and Besiktas, managed 13 goals and a further two assists in an output that would naturally boost the Hammers' offensive numbers around him.
On his way to Besiktas, Muci earned plenty of praise, including from Football Talent Scout's Jacek Kulig, who described the start of his last campaign as "superb".
Of course, the added incentive of beating Aston Villa in the race for Muci's signature wouldn't go amiss, either. The Besiktas man is one to watch in the final two weeks of the summer transfer window, as two big spenders potentially go head-to-head in a battle to secure his arrival.