Transfer rumor roundup 6/15: West Ham eyeing Giroud swoop?

Here’s a roundup of the latest news and transfer rumors surrounding which players could be joining new teams in the coming months.

While French strikers Kylian Mbappe and Alexandre Lacazette have been the focus of intense transfer speculation, the country’s starting center forward, Olivier Giroud, could also be on the move this summer.

If Arsenal bring in another striker, Giroud could seek a move away from the Emirates, and Football London reports his agent has already held discussions with West Ham over a transfer.

Of course, joining the Hammers would allow Giroud to remain in London, giving them an edge over interest abroad from Marseille and Lyon.

Slaven Bilic’s side also figure to have the funds to pay the 30-year-old’s quoted £20 million fee, as well as meet his request for a four-year, £100,000-per-week contract.

Considering West Ham’s current first-choice forward, Andy Carroll, managed to play just 15 games last season, Giroud would seemingly have far less competition for minutes with the Hammers than at Arsenal, where he started a career-low 11 matches last term.

However, since arriving in England in 2012, Giroud has scored in double figures each year, making him someone that would surely help the Hammers while also preserving his spot for next summer’s World Cup.

Although news of West Ham’s interest in Giroud comes during a dry spell in their pursuit of Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, the Hammers are also in for one of Iheanacho’s Nigerian teammates, Henry Onyekuru.

Incidentally, Onyekuru was linked with Arsenal in recent weeks, but Own Goal Nigeria reports West Ham have submitted an improved £9 million transfer bid for him.

At first, it was believed Onyekuru’s release clause of £6.5 million would allow him to leave KAS Eupen. However, that clause has since been revealed to only apply to fellow Belgian outfits.

After tallying a sensational 24 goals and nine assists across all competitions, the 20-year-old is valued around £9 million on the international market, and Eupen are also said to desire to sell Onyekuru to a prestigious foreign club, which is something they don’t necessarily see West Ham as.

With it also unclear if Onyekuru will qualify for a work permit in England, it appears Eupen’s fall-back plan is to sell him to Belgian giants Anderlecht, whose president has close ties to Mogi Bayat, the Eupen negotiator that recently held talks with West Ham.

Another complicated transfer saga is that of Diego Costa, who has already been told he’s not wanted at Chelsea next season.

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It’s well known that Costa holds a special admiration for his former club Atletico Madrid and manager Diego Simeone, but the Spanish side’s transfer ban won’t allow them to register new players until 2018.

According to Marca, however, that won’t prevent Costa from returning to Atleti, as he’s prepared to transfer there this summer and subsequently sit out six months before being eligible to play in January.

Costa has reportedly been assured by Spain manager Julen Lopetegui that doing so won’t hurt his World Cup chances, and Atleti will devise a special training program to ensure Costa is fully fit when called upon.

Prior to joining Chelsea in 2014, Costa scored 36 goals in 52 total appearances while leading Atleti to that year’s Champions League final.

Elsewhere in Spain, Valencia are once again facing the reality that they’ll need to offload their best players in order to improve their financial situation before adding new, cheaper alternatives, Super Deporte reports.

That means midfielder Dani Parejo and right-back Joao Cancelo could hit the market, as there’s so far been underwhelming interest in Aymen Abdennour and Enzo Perez.

The report continues to document Valencia’s interest in Malaga midfielder Pablo Fornals, whose representatives have met with the club recently.

At 21 years old, Fornals was regularly scouted by Valencia this past season, when he recorded six goals and two assists while playing a few different midfield roles.