West Ham have made space for loan moves for Tottenham’s Antonin Kinsky and Chelsea’s Axel Disasi by sending Igor Julio back to Brighton.
Nuno Espírito Santo has strengthened his attack by signing Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe for a package worth up to £47m and is looking to boost his side in their battle against relegation by bringing in a goalkeeper and a defender. West Ham are looking at short-term deals and have given themselves leeway by terminating Igor’s loan early.
Premier League sides are allowed two domestic loan slots and a solution was required for the east Londoners to pursue both Disasi and Kinsky. One has been found by Igor’s time at the London Stadium being cut short. The defender has made only four appearances since joining West Ham on a season-long loan last summer.
West Ham have inquired about Kinsky, who joined Spurs from Slavia Prague last year, and would like the goalkeeper on loan with an option to buy. However the 22-year-old Czech wants regular football and it is unclear whether he would dislodge Alphonse Areola in West Ham’s lineup
Kinsky may stay at Spurs, where is backup to Guglielmo Vicario, if he is not to be first choice under Nuno. West Ham would also need to find a solution around their current No 2, Mads Hermansen, who has struggled since joining from Leicester last summer.
Nuno has spoken about rebalancing his squad and he is aware of the need to improve West Ham’s defence. They have not kept a clean sheet since August and are looking at a loan for Disasi. The Frenchman has not played for Chelsea this season and is up for sale.
Another midfielder who could well be on his way out of the club is James Ward-Prowse, with Burnley interested in the 31-year-old, who was named in a match-day squad for the first time under Nuno for last Saturday’s win over Sunderland but is out of favour up for sale.
West Ham have also agreed a deal to sign Adama Traoré from Fulham on an initial six-month deal. The winger played for Nuno at Wolves and will provide cover for Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville.
Aston Villa have completed the £18.25m signing of Tammy Abraham from Besiktas, the 28-year-old striker returning to the club where he enjoyed a fruitful loan spell during the 2018-19 season, helping them achieve promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-off final.
Abraham has signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Villa and moves back to England five years after leaving the country in order to join Roma. He was on loan at Besiktas from the Italian club and they activated their £11m buy option on Monday.
Bournemouth have completed the signing of teenage Brazilian forward Rayan from Vasco da Gama.
The 19-year-old has reportedly cost £24.7m with a further £5.6m in potential add-ons, signing a five-year contract with the south-coast club.
Rayan scored 20 goals in 57 appearances in all competitions for Vasco da Gama last year. He has also scored twice for Brazil Under-20s.
“I am very happy and very honoured to be here, especially with the sporting project they developed for me,” said Rayan. “I’m extremely happy. It’s a club that develops a lot of talents, so I’m very happy to be here and hope to give the fans a lot of joy.”
