For the second time in one summer, a player apparently on West Ham United’s radar appears to be heading to Premier League newcomers Sunderland instead.
And, while some at the London Stadium may erroneously accuse the Hammers of missing even a fraction of the drive showed by last season’s play-off champions— After all, West Ham require additional sales to fund agreements for players like Harvey Elliott; nevertheless, Sunderland’s eye-catching spending implies the relegation battle may not be as easy the next time around.
Despite a dismal first three-quarters of the 2024/25 season, West Ham United never seemed in danger of relegation.
Not with Leicester City, Southampton, and Ipswich Town combining for 59 less points than Brighton, who finished eighth on their alone.
Burnley and Leeds may struggle to break the recent trend of freshly promoted teams regressing. However, unless Graham Potter can ignite a turnaround at West Ham, Sunderland’s remarkable return to the top flight will send nerves jangling.
Sunderland now appear to be following up on the signings of Habib Diarra, Granit Xhaka, Simon Adingra, and others with Robin Roefs, the NEC Nijmegen goalkeeper who was linked with West Ham earlier this week.
Sunderland have agreed to sign West Ham United-linked goalkeeper Robin Roefs
The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported on Tuesday that West Ham were interested in Robin Roefs.
‘Serious’ interest, that is. For the time being, it remains unclear whether such claims were true.
The fact that Sunderland was not even mentioned in AD’s report yet are now likely to complete the signing of the Netherlands Under-21 international calls into question the authenticity of the Hammers’ claims.
Just 24 hours after Roefs was linked with a move to the London Stadium, The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed that Sunderland had reached an agreement with NEC Nijmegen worth £9 million.
The 22-year-old apparently had medical testing on Wednesday. Roefs, who was in goal for the Netherlands when Elliott fired England into the final of this summer’s U21 European Championship, is likely to sign a five-year contract with Wearside.
So, while Hammers News reported that West Ham would step up their goalie search this week, it appears that Sunderland will sign a new shot-stopper as the wait in London continues.
Meanwhile, West Ham admitted that they considered Habib Diarra before agreeing to a club-record deal for the former Strasbourg midfielder a month ago.
Mads Hermansen is the main choice because Zion Suzuki is unavailable for Parma
Zion Suzuki, a Parma star, did not train on Wednesday. However, with the Serie A club demanding more than £30 million, this appears to be a lost struggle.
According to Hammers News, the top target is Leicester City’s Mads Hermansen. He previously worked with West Ham’s new goalkeeping coach Casper Ankergren at his hometown club Brondby. Hermansen hasn’t played for Leicester in preseason.
Marti Cifuentes, who will replace Ruud van Nistelrooy in the King Power dugout, argues that his absence may be explained by groin surgery he had late last season.
“Hermansen’s recovery is progressing well. “He’s started training with the group,” Cifuentes said. “During this camp [in Austria], he has made significant progress in comparison to what he was doing previously. He is feeling terrific. He is starting to kick longer and push harder.
“We hope he can be ready soon.”
While Alphonse Areola made another important possession error in Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat on Saturday, Wes Foderingham also failed to shine against Everton in Chicago.
There is a suggestion that West Ham may require two new goalkeepers before the September deadline.
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