Co-owner David Sullivan has confirmed to the club’s official website that there was a takeover bid for the club from Red Bull in August, which the board turned down as they have no intention to sell. He wrote:
“We did have a tentative approach to buy the Club for £650m from external investors in August this year, but I want to reiterate that we, the current owners, have NO DESIRE to sell the Club unless it is to somebody like the King of Saudi Arabia who can take it to a level we cannot ourselves hope to reach.”
The owners have come in for harsh criticism following the move to the London Stadium, with a number of teething problems making it a difficult start to life in their new home.
West Ham are reportedly considering a move for Fiorentina striker and former Blackburn Rovers man Nikola Kalinic, who scored 13 goals in 53 games for the now Championship club. Corriere Dello Sporto claim that the Croatian is keen to stay in Florence but could be tempted by a return to Italy, with Aston Villa also competing for his services.
That has not been helped by the poor form of the team on the pitch, particularly owing to a number of disappointing summer signings, which Slaven Bilic is keen to avoid repeating in January as a source told the Sun:
“We are looking to buy British in the winter as we feel they are less of a gamble and don’t need time to adapt. We feel the team needs more British players. We had a desperately poor summer window and we need some new faces in. There is no appetite for the foreign market after what’s happened. It’s just not worth the club taking that risk this January. A lot of players need a season and we don’t have time for that. This cuts down the options we can go for, but we will try and achieve it wherever possible.”
This follows the disappointing form of the likes of Simone Zaza, Jonathan Calleri, Alvaro Arbeloa, Gokhan Tore and Sofiane Feghouli since joining in the summer.
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