West Ham have club record bids rejected for Anthony Modeste and Cedric Bakambu Jason Burt, chief football correspondent
30 JUNE 2017 • 7:58PM
West Ham Unitedhave failed in club record bids for the Cologne striker Anthony Modeste and the Villarreal forward Cedric Bakambu.Telegraph Sport understands that the Premier League club has made offers of 25million euros (£22million) for each of the two forward players which is more than the £20million they paid to sign Andre Ayew from Swansea City last summer.Co-chairman David Gold has already gone public with West Ham’s determination to bring in forward players during this transfer window with the injury problems being suffered by Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho and a lack of options having hampered them last season. But the club has been shocked by the fees being demanded around Europe.
Modeste is a powerful striker who has done extremely well in Germany, scoring 25 goals in the Bundesliga last season, but Cologne are believed to be demanding more than £35million for the player even though he is 29.
The French forward was close to agreeing a deal to move to China, with the club Tianjin Quanjian, for a similar fee but that collapsed last week. The Chinese interest appears to be influencing the fee being asked for by Cologne.
On Wednesday, a brief statement on Cologne's official website said the Bundesliga club "have terminated discussions with Tianjin Quanjian regarding the transfer of Anthony Modeste." It added that the transfer collapsed "after the parties involved were not able to reach an agreement."
West Ham have long tracked Modeste and he is a prime target for manager Slaven Bilic who has admired him for a long-time. The striker failed during a brief period at Blackburn Rovers but has performed well in Germany with Hoffenheim and now with Cologne. Modeste remains under contract with Cologne until June 2021.
Bakambu is a 25-year-old DR Congo international who has enjoyed an impressive campaign in Spain with Villarreal. Born in France, he scored 22 goals last season and is a quick and powerful forward player who can also play as a winger having also played in Turkey.
West Ham are determined to add more power and pace and goal threat to their team and avoid the difficulties they had last season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/30/west-ham-have-record-bids-rejected-anthony-modeste-cedric-bakambu/
