West Ham have had a bid rejected by Galatasaray for forward Baris Alper Yilmaz, according to reports coming out of Turkey.
The club’s striker search has become somewhat frantic over the last week, with a bid of £57m for Jhon Duran being rejected by Aston Villa and reported moves for the likes of Evan Ferguson and Taiwo Awoniyi seemingly not progressing.
New boss Graham Potter is in desperate need of reinforcements up front after losing both Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville to injury in this first game in charge over a week ago.
While Summerville’s return to action is imminent, Fullkrug is expected to be out for “a number of weeks.” With Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen also sidelined, Potter has been left with only Danny Ings as his only fit striker and has opted to play both Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus as strikers in the last two games.
West Ham have notoriously struggled to sign strikers over the past couple of decades, but it could be argued the need to get it right has never been more important than it is right now.
Turkish reports from Hurriyet claim, though, that the Hammers’ bid of €25m plus €5m in bonus add-ons for Yilmaz has been knocked back by Galatasaray as they have no intention of letting their forward leave in January while they compete for silverware on three fronts.
West Ham reportedly sent scouts to watch the 24-year-old last month, and it appears they saw enough of him to warrant testing the waters with a bid in January, but to no avail.
The Turkish forward, who can play on either wing but also as a striker, has scored 11 goals in 28 appearances in all competitions this season, 10 of which have come in the Turkish Super Lig.
It’s believed that while Gala are not willing to entertain advances for Yilmaz this winter, they could be prepared to sell him in the summer.