West Ham now in ‘talks’ with £21m defender hailed a ‘gladiator’ after losing out on Maguire – Romano

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West Ham are on the hunt for a new defender and Fabrizio Romano has now shared who they are looking to target after missing out on Harry Maguire.

Sadly, West Ham were not able to sign Maguire this summer despite having a reported £30million bid accepted for the Englishman.

Now, Romano tweeted the latest on West Ham and their hunt for a new centre-back. He said: “West Ham want Kostas Mavropanos as new centre back after Harry Maguire deal collapsed. Talks on Mavropanos keen on Premier League return, deal being discussed.”

With the Hammers very keen on a new defender and only a couple of weeks left of the transfer window, it will not be surprising to see these talks over Mavropanos speed up soon.

West Ham target Mavropanos

The defender has been slowly progressing into the player that saw Arsenal sign him back in 2018. He is now permanently playing his football in Germany. He is highly-rated there, and he was labelled as a ‘gladiator’ by his former manager Pellegrino Matarazzo.

With West Ham players like Angelo Ogbonna towards the end of their careers, and others like Kurt Zouma very injury prone, it is no shock to see West Ham want a defender.

David Moyes is a manager who loves a good defence and he will definitely be wanting to add more quality in this department. The defender has a reported release clause of around £21million.

They also have the Europa League to contend with. Due to this, they definitely need to make sure they have a strong squad and not just a strong starting eleven.

Mavropanos is a Greek international and also only 25 years-old. He would add some good experience but is also of an age where he could be involved in the club for many years.

The Hammers need to start moving quickly. They have started to make a couple of signings but definitely need a couple more if they want to improve this season.