West Ham have had bid rejected for ‘outstanding’ Aston Villa player

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West Ham United have now had a bid rejected for an Aston Villa forward as the January transfer window now begins to heat up.

Despite nearing completion on a deal for Manchester City’s Kalvin Phillips, it seems West Ham won’t be stopping there.

Aston Villa also look like they could be busy in this final week, with players linked with moves both in and out of the club.

That being said, David Moyes’ West Ham side have been crying out for a prolific striker for the past few years.

The club have made multiple attempts to replace or provide competition for Michail Antonio, but they’ve simply had no luck.

Gianluca Scamacca was sold last summer and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Danny Ings was heading for the same fate. 

And with Antonio still suffering with an injury whilst Ings struggles to prove his worth, that explains why West Ham have now made a bid for an Aston Villa striker.

Whilst no club would test Unai Emery’s reserve on Ollie Watkins this month, it seems that a deal for Jhon Duran could be achievable – if Villa find a replacement.

West Ham have loan bid rejected for Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran

Journalist Jacob Steinberg shared the update on X today, saying West Ham had made a loan enquiry for Duran.

Villa quickly knocked the bid back, citing their need to have replacement sorted first.

Also mentioning Chelsea’s interest, Steinberg said: “Chelsea are yet to make any firm moves on potential interest in Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran.

“West Ham had loan enquiry for Duran knocked back as Villa would prefer to have a replacement sorted – still in three competitions.”

Of course, it still remains quite surprising that Villa are willing to entertain the idea of Duran leaving at all in January.

The striker has shown ‘outstanding’ promise at times, justifying why they picked up him from the MLS.

However, Emery seems to have judged that Duran isn’t quite ready to back up Watkins this season, and there’s a lot on the line.

If Chelsea are able to conclude a deal for Duran instead, it could transpire that West Ham and Aston Villa compete for the similar targets in this last week.

Both have been linked with Armando Broja recently. 

And with under a week of January to go, it seems as if there could be quite the striker merry-go-round.