Journalist: Newman eyeing West Ham move for irreplaceable £20m player who’s ‘making headlines’

According journalist Dean Jones of Eurosport, speaking to GiveMeSport, West Ham are firmly in the hunt to sign Middlesbrough defender Dael Fry.

In the build up to January, the Hammers and recruitment chief Rob Newman were heavily linked with a number of central defensive additions amid West Ham’s previous emergency.

90min claimed they could even turn to the Championship as they became linked to Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly, QPR mainstay Rob Dickie and Boro’s Fry.

According to Jones, speaking to GMS, that interest has remained as Moyes, West Ham and Newman remain in the picture to sign Chris Wilder’s star defender.

Indeed, as per the ‘transfer insider‘, the Hammers are very much in contention alongside a number of Premier League clubs.

“Dael Fry and [Marcus] Tavernier are obviously making headlines at the moment following Middlesbrough’s great win,” he explained.

“Both of those players will be available in the summer if Middlesbrough don’t manage to win promotion. So, there are a lot of Premier League clubs looking at these two players, Dael Fry, in particular, Wolves, Brighton, West Ham and Southampton are all very interested in him.”

He is estimated by Jones to cost around £20 million, but for this amount, is Fry worth the plunge?

Likened to England international and Man City defender John Stones (90min), the 24-year-old has been a crucial player for Boro over these past few seasons with former boss Neil Warnock even claiming last year they ‘cannot replace‘ him.

Tavernier has waxed lyrical over the ‘unbelievable‘ Fry before but his lack of experience in the Premier League makes a £20m bid potentially risky business.

In other news: West Ham source: Moyes back in to sign ‘explosive’ 2020 target who’s ‘as quick as anything’,