West Ham United’s attempts to sign Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic have broken down, according to talkSPORT host Jim White.
The Hammers are in the market for a new central defender to bolster David Moyes’ squad, with the East London side short of options at the heart of their backline.
West Ham have just Angelo Ogbonna, Fabien Balbuena and Issa Diop as senior first-team options in central defence, with the latter currently self-isolating and not available for selection.
The Hammers have also recently switched to a back three and while the formation change has worked for the team, there are not many options for Moyes to select from in defence.
West Ham have been linked with a move for Serbia international Milenkovic, who has starred for Fiorentina and is highly rated – with White confirming that he had spoken to Irons chief David Sullivan and that a deal was now off the table.
“Just before we came on air, I was speaking to David Sullivan at West Ham,” the pundit stated.
“So they were interested in Nikola Milenkovic at Fiorentina, 22-year-old Serbian centre-back, more than decent, towering individual, takes no prisoners, tough guy at the back.
“They were quoted £25 million and £10 million in add-ons. That’d be a £35 million deal. Now, for whatever reason, it hasn’t happened. The move’s broken down.”
West Ham’s transfer budget has been impacted during this window, with the sale of a host of first-team players to raise funds for defensive reinforcements.
However, the likelihood of the Hammers being able to spend a considerable fee on a new player is small and as such the East London club may have to look to the loan market in the final days of the window.
West Ham fans have become disillusioned with the club’s ownership, who promised to sign defenders with the money raised from the sale of Grady Diangana to West Brom, but so far have not.