West Ham United are reportedly keen on beating Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur over the deal to sign Genoa defender Koni De Winter, as per Caught Offside.
After joining Juventus’s youth system back in 2018, the 22-year-old made his senior debut a few years later. However, he couldn’t manage to secure his place in the Bianconeri’s starting eleven so he went out on loan on a couple of occasions before joining Genoa permanently last summer.
Now, he has been a key player in the Rossoblu’s starting line-up this season, scoring three goals and keeping five clean sheets in 16 Serie A starts thus far.
Caught Offside state that after being impressed by the Belgian’s recent displays, Manchester United have registered their interest in signing him. Apart from the Red Devils, Tottenham have also expressed their interest in him after monitoring his performances closely.
However, neither Spurs nor United are prioritising signing him this summer. Instead, West Ham United have identified De Winter as the primary target to reinforce the defensive department.
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Battle
The defender’s existing contract with the Italian side will run until 2028 but they would be open to letting him leave the club should they receive an offer of at least £25m.
De Winter hasn’t only attracted Premier League clubs’ attention as Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Napoli and FC Porto are also interested in him.
However, the English clubs are stronger financially than other European teams, therefore, it is highly likely that the Belgian will move to the Premier League if he were to leave Genoa this summer.
Tottenham have struggled with injury problems this season with most of those at their back. Therefore, they decided to reinforce the defence by signing Kevin Danso in the winter window but it appears the Lilywhites are planning to add more depth in this position.
On the other hand, Man Utd are set to lose Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans as free agents this summer. So, perhaps, Ruben Amorim is willing to sign a centre-back this summer.
West Ham, meanwhile, have appointed Graham Potter as the new manager after letting Julen Lopetegui leave the club and the former Chelsea boss is seemingly planning to start his rebuild at London Stadium by strengthening the defence.
De Winter, standing at 6ft 3in tall, is comfortable playing in the centre-back position as well as in the right-back role.
It remains to be seen whether the Hammers can eventually manage to secure his service by defeating Man Utd and Tottenham in this race.
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