Tim Steidten wants to sign ‘fantastic’ £8.6m midfielder for West Ham, club not keen to sell

West Ham United now want to sign FC Midtjylland midfielder Emiliano Martinez this summer.

A report from Danish publication Tipsbladet has shared that West Ham are among the clubs interested in the 23-year-old.

David Moyes is now working alongside new director of football Tim Steidten in the transfer window.

Unfortunately, the pair have failed to bring in a single player this summer.

This is especially concerning given the departure of Declan Rice who is going to be incredibly difficult to replace.

Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse is being targeted now but there’s still a difference between the two club’s valuation of the 28-year-old.

The Hammers have also now given up on signing Joao Palhinha after his brilliant first season for Fulham in the Premier League.

West Ham now want to sign Uruguayan international Emiliano Martinez to solve their midfield crisis.

Martinez isn’t the finished product yet, but has huge potential and appears to be ready to make the move to a bigger league this summer.

West Ham want to sign Martinez

The report from Tipsbladet suggests that Martinez could be available for £8.6m this summer.

Everton were previously interested while newly promoted Luton Town are also keen.

Tipsbladet name Tim Steidten as someone specifically looking for Rice’s replacement with Martinez in mind.

However, Midtjylland don’t want to sell Martinez as he’s key to their domestic and European campaign.

The ‘fantastic’ defender is no relation to the Aston Villa goalkeeper of the same name.

He was initially signed by Midtjylland on loan from Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil last summer.

Martinez made such an impression that his loan was converted into a permanent deal just six months later.

West Ham now want to sign Martinez and continue his rapid ascent through European football.

The 23-year-old is a player with plenty of potential but a move to West Ham might be coming too quickly in his career.

Martinez would be a great signing alongside another midfielder this summer.

Relying on him to immediately step up and replace Declan Rice would be optimistic right now.

West Ham United want to sign Joel Pohjanpalo as Michail Antonio replacement, four new signings mooted

West Ham are in the hunt to sign Venezia striker Joel Pohjanpalo as a replacement for exit-linked Michail Antonio, according to The Mirror.

The newspaper reported online on Wednesday (2 August) that Antonio, 33, wants to quit the London Stadium this summer “to explore pastures new”.

It is understood that 28-year-old Finland international Pohjanpalo is a potential replacement with West Ham confident they’ll be able to sign four new players before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

Pohjanpalo’s name isn’t exactly one that rolls of the tongue but those who have been keeping an eye on Italian football over the last 12 months will have seen the Helsinki-born striker scoring bags of goals for Venezia.

Last season, the former Bayer Leverkusen striker scored 19 goals and supplied seven assists in 38 appearances across all competitions for Venezia.

Unfortunately for him and for his club, Venezia missed out on promotion to Serie A due to a Serie B play-off loss to Cagliari, in which Pohjanpalo wore the captain’s armband.

The 63-times Finland international is a tall, powerful forward who loves to score headers and poachers’ finishes.

“Joel is a goalscorer. He fits our requirements perfectly, is physically robust and has proven his nose for goal in the past,” said Union Berlin sporting director Oliver Ruhnert, via the Bundesliga website, two years ago.

Pohjanpalo is, unfortunately, a bit of a journeyman.

Venezia are the ninth club of his professional career, including loan spells. He’s previously represented the likes of HJK Helsinki, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Union Berlin and Caykur Rizespor before joining Venezia last year.

He’s been impressive in Italy’s second tier but can this physical forward replicate those performances as a replacement for Antonio in the Premier League?

It seems unlikely.

In other West Ham United news, Dharmesh Sheth has issued an update on a “compromise” between Southampton and the Irons for James Ward-Prowse.