The £20m England international who could bolster West Ham's dodgy defence this summer
West Ham have been linked with a £20m-rated defender who could offer Graham Potter some of the control that he needs.
While they ended up staying well clear of the relegation battle in the end, it’s fair to describe West Ham United’s 2024/25 season as a pretty substantial disappointment – and if they’re going to start making their way back towards the top half of the table, they’re going to have to find ways to improve in several areas. The defence might be close to the top of the list.
Despite a significant investment in the back four which saw Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all added to the squad, West Ham were still leaky, and although they conceded fewer goals than they had the season before they still ended up shipping more than all but five other teams and kept only seven clean sheets.
So while finding a replacement for Mohammed Kudus and signing a fit and healthy central striker may seem like the immediate priorities, it’s no great surprise to see rumours connecting West Ham with a defender who could help them to keep things a little tighter at the back – and if the stories are correct, then the price point may represent a significant bargain…
The £20m defender supposedly on West Ham’s summer shortlist
The defender in question is Southampton centre-half Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who enjoyed an impressive season despite playing on one of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen and even earned his first call-up to the senior England squad, scoring on debut against the Republic of Ireland.
TeamTalk are among several online outlets to have reported on West Ham’s alleged interest, and suggest that Southampton would be prepared to let him go for £20m following their relegation to the Championship.
An ankle injury sustained towards the end of last season may slow negotiations down, and Harwood-Bellis has yet to return to training, so a deal may wait until he gets back on grass – something which is expected to happen in early August.
Still, it’s claimed that his fitness issues won’t dissuade West Ham from making a bid for the 23-year-old, especially given that the price tag is very reasonable for a defender who has a reputation as one of the more promising young centre-backs in the country.
Other teams may well enter the fray, of course. Everton have been linked on a few occasions, while Porto reportedly offer a potential overseas option should Harwood-Bellis fancy a change of scenery. His playing style should earmark him as the type of defender that Graham Potter values, however, and with Kilman and Todibo struggling for consistency and marked lack of depth behind them, it would hardly be surprising if the Hammers were indeed at the front of the queue.
Why Taylor Harwood-Bellis looks like an ideal signing for West Ham
Todibo and Kilman offer plenty of quality in many regards, even if their performances were distinctly up-and-down, and both are superb in one-on-one situations while lacking nothing in terms of physical prowess. But Harwood-Bellis has a degree of technique and control that his potential rivals for a starting place at the London Stadium simply don’t boast.
Given that Potter’s playing style is based around possession and control of the flow of the game, having a defender in the ranks who is more comfortable both with the ball at his feet and with his distribution makes a certain amount of sense, and Harwood-Bellis would improve West Ham in those areas.
Harwood-Bellis not only completed more passes than Todibo or Kilman (around twice as many as Todibo) but was more accurate over distance, generating plenty of positive yardage and helping to tee up counter-attacks. He was directly involved in the creation of an average of 1.18 shooting chances per match, a healthy number for a centre-back and more than Todibo and Kilman combined. That’s even more remarkable when one recalls how hard Southampton found it to get anywhere near the opposing goal most of the time.
Harwood-Bellis is also blessed with excellent positional sense (only two centre-backs made more blocks than he did all season, although playing for a bad team certainly created opportunities to tot up stats like that) and a comfort in possession that makes him resistant to counter-pressing by the opposition, something else that West Ham could make use of.
Signing Harwood-Bellis for a budget-friendly £20m or so wouldn’t just make West Ham’s squad deeper, but better in some of the ways that Potter needs it to be better for his gameplan to function – all while adding a defender with room to develop and grow further. There is every chance that Harwood-Bellis becomes a truly first-rate defender in years to come.
As it stands, no formal offers appear to have been made from West Ham or anyone else, and it may be that his injury has delayed an approach – certainly it would make a medical rather more challenging. But don’t expect Harwood-Bellis to be playing in the second tier next season. West Ham, or perhaps one of their rivals, could be getting a rather remarkable deal.