Manchester United defender Harry Maguire is closing in on a £30 million move to West Ham to end a turbulent four-year spell at Old Trafford.
A deal to move to the London club has been agreed in principle with United, while West Ham are also close to signing Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse in a separate £30 million deal.
Maguire’s move to the London Stadium represents a huge loss, with the former captain’s move to Old Trafford costing them £80 million in 2019 – which remains a world record for a defender.
Erik ten Hag stripped Maguire of the captaincy last month and England manager Gareth Southgate had warned the 30-year-old that he needed to be playing regular first team football this season to ensure he remained in England contention.
The move for Ward-Prowse, meanwhile, comes after weeks of negotiations with Southampton. The 28-year-old has been a top target for West Ham as they have looked to rebuild their midfield following the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal.
West Ham are also set to announce the signing of Mexico midfielder Edson Alvarez, who is joining the club from Ajax in a deal worth around £32 million.
Meanwhile, West Ham are facing a battle to keep Lucas Paqueta at the club after Manchester City added the Brazil international to their list of transfer targets and made an initial approach.
That first approach has been deemed unacceptable by West Ham, who do not want to sell another key player in the same summer that Rice joined Arsenal.
Telegraph Sport understands that Paqueta has an £85 million release clause which becomes active next summer. City would be unable to trigger the clause this year but that figure could be used as part of discussions between the two clubs.
The Treble winners have lost Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez in this transfer window, and have so far signed only Mateo Kovacic as a midfield replacement. In defence, they have added Croatia centre-back Josko Gvardiol for a fee of £77 million.
Paqueta struggled to find form and consistency in the first half of last season but he became more effective towards the end of West Ham’s campaign. He played the crucial pass that allowed Jarrod Bowen to score the winner in West Ham’s Europa Conference League final victory over Fiorentina in June.
The 25-year-old is a regular for the Brazil national team and impressed at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, where he started four of his country’s five matches.
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