West Ham could bring 'in-demand' £8.5m star to London Stadium

West Ham United target Arthur Theate is ‘a really good defender’ who has ‘caught a lot of attention this season’, according to Italian football expert Conor Clancy.

The 22-year-old has been linked with a move away from Bologna after enjoying an extremely productive 2021/22 campaign and is believed to be on David Moyes’ radar.

According to Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Theate has fallen out of favour with Bologna manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, who switched formation to a back four towards the end of last season.

It’s claimed that while the Belgium international isn’t actively being pushed out of the club, the Serie A outfit are open to sanctioning his sale if the right offer arrives.

And that’s because Theate is the most likely candidate to be sacrificed if Mihajlovic decides to stick with a back four for next term, opening the door to a potential switch to West Ham.

If the east London outfit want to prise the 6 foot 1 ace away from the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, then they will have to fork out just €10 million (£8.5m), a fee that could represent a bargain in the modern era.

Clancy has disclosed how ‘everybody kind of has an eye’ on Theate in Italy following his impressive exploits for Bologna.

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In an interview with GiveMeSport, he said: “He’s just a really good defender, and I’m hesitant to praise him too much because he’s only really been doing it for, I guess, just this season with Bologna, but he’s caught a lot of attention this season.

“He’s been linked with all sorts of clubs in Italy as well, everybody kind of has an eye on him, and if you’re at Bologna and big clubs want you, that says a lot because Bologna are a