West Ham are confident in beating rivals to midfielder

West Ham United are confident they can beat Premier League rivals Everton to former France international Maxime Gonalons, according to the Express.

Roma are seemingly looking to offload the midfielder this summer and could be willing to let the 30-year-old leave for a cut-price as the Italian side look to cut their wage bill.

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is looking to enhance his squad this summer and build on last season’s 10th-place finish.

The Chilean has already dipped into the transfer market recruiting the likes of Roberto, David Martin and spending £24million on Villarreal’s Pablo Fornals.

Gonalons appears to have been a target for West Ham for some time as the East London outfit reportedly had an £8.9m bid knocked back by Roma last summer.

The reported Hammers target made his name with Lyon, where he made over 300 appearances after progressing through the youth ranks before moving on to Roma in July 2017.

But he found opportunities limited at the Stadio Olimpico, making just 16 appearances, and was loaned out to Sevilla a year later.

Just weeks after joining the Spanish side, he broke his leg in training, which kept him out of action for over six weeks and injuries were a recurring theme throughout the season which restricted his game time to just 13 outings during the campaign.

There is no doubt that Gonalons is a player with ability and if West Ham could keep him fit, the Frenchman may be an excellent signing.

However, there is a chance that the recent ill fortunes that the midfielder has suffered could continue at the Hammers and as such signing him is something of a risk.