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19th July 2024
10:28am BST
N’Golo Kante is tipped for a return to the Premier League as West Ham enter the race to sign the midfielder from Al-Ittihad.
Kante moved to Saudi Arabia in 2023 after seven years at Chelsea and although he is said to be happy at his current club, he is open to moving back to London.
Negotiations between Julen Lopetegui’s side and the Saudi club are ongoing, but West Ham will have to pay around £20m for the 33-year-old.
West Ham are looking for a replacement for Kalvin Phillips who failed to impress during his loan spell from Manchester City and the deal was not made permanent.
Lopetegui rates Kante highly and wanted to sign the midfielder during his time at Real Madrid.
The Hammers were in the running to sign Aleix Garcia from Girona, but he chose to join Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.
Kante enjoyed a brilliant spell at Premier League side Leicester City, where he was a key player as the Foxes won the Premier League in 2016. He then moved to Stamford Bridge where he helped his side win the Premier League in 2017.
With Chelsea, Kante won the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League and was named the PFA Player of the Year in 2016/17.
The French midfielder, who has 61 caps for his country, impressed at Euro 2024 despite losing to Spain in the semi-finals. He would bring a great deal of valuable experience to West Ham.
After taking over from David Moyes at the end of the season, Lopetegui has already boosted his squad with the additions of Max Kilman, Luis Guilherme and Wes Foderingham.
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