Tottenham ‘planning’ shock bid for £25m West Ham star as Aston Villa target yet another striker

With less than two weeks of the transfer window remaining, the rumour mill is starting to get very busy indeed – so to help ensure that you’re in the loop with everything that’s going on this January, we’re back with our daily morning round-up of the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours.

We kick proceedings off today with a story from The Daily Mail which suggests that Tottenham Hotspur are “planning” a £25m bid for West Ham winger Crysencio Summerville as they search for a way to fill the void on the wings left by recent injuries and the departure of Brennan Johnson.

Spurs are also still concerned about the prospect of losing Mathys Tel as Paris FC circle the young Frenchman, and Summerville could be the solution there, too. There’s no word on whether a £25m bid would be acceptable, but it’s worth noting that’s it’s pretty much exactly what they paid to sign the Dutchman from Leeds in the first place.

All the report does say is that West Ham are “unlikely to want him to leave” as they continue their battle against relegation – and Summerville’s importance in that battle was perhaps demonstrated when he scored the opening goal as the Hammers beat Spurs just a few short days ago. Clearly he made an impression…

The 3AM Verdict: There’s little detail here and no suggestion that a formal approach has yet been made, but we highly doubt that £25m would be enough to get a deal done here given West Ham’s league position and the fact that it wouldn’t even represent a profit on the 24-year-old. We’ll stay gently sceptical of this story for now, but it wouldn’t be the most surprising move Spurs have ever made in a transfer window.

Aston Villa enter growing race for AFCON star

Let’s hand over to a story from GiveMeSport now, who allege (via Fabrizio Romano) that Aston Villa have “made a phone call” to find out whether they can sign Fenerbahçe forward Youssef En-Nesyri, who is attracting an awful lot of interest now that he’s wrapped up his Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Morocco.

With Villa “determined” to sign a new striker, the 28-year-old is now on their radar alongside both Tammy Abraham and Jean-Philippe Mateta, not that Unai Emery’s side are alone in being keen on En-Nesyri.

Napoli and Juventus are apparently “in the chase” for the striker, while Everton have also been heavily linked with a bid over the past week. It’s also mentioned that Villa will be looking to sign a new midfielder, too, with Boubacar Kamara out for the rest of the season due to injury.

The 3AM Verdict: Talks over a deal for Abraham are in advanced stages, so it’s interesting to see them going after other targets, especially ones which look more like they’re intended as either partners for Ollie Watkins, or even replacements. It’s too early to say where En-Nesyri will wind up, but Villa Park makes as much sense as Merseyside or Naples.

Burnley want West Ham star on loan for the season

Summerville isn’t the only West Ham player in demand this month, as it turns out – if Sky Sports have their story straight then relegation-threatened Burnley also “want to sign” out-of-favour midfielder James Ward-Prowse before the deadline.

The Clarets are said to be looking at a loan deal for the 31-year-old England international, who has fallen down the pecking order at the London Stadium and is not in Nuno Espirito Santo’s plans for the rest of the campaign.

Burnley are said to have “explored the conditions” of a deal with West Ham, but Ward-Prowse has been “told he can leave,” while Burnley need to find a replacement for Josh Cullen, who has suffered a ruptured ACL. There’s no word on the player’s likely decision as yet.

The 3AM Verdict: Assuming the report is accurate, we can’t imagine there will be any difficulty getting this one over the line. We’d assume Ward-Prowse is keen to move on, and West Ham certainly won’t stand in his way. A deal we’d be very unsurprised to see confirmed before too long.