West Ham United are looking to bolster their attack this summer as they prepare for life in the Europa League…
What is the latest on Harvey Barnes to West Ham United?
According to transfer insider Dean Jones, the east London outfit are in the early stages of figuring out a deal for Leicester City winger Harvey Barnes, and it's thought that they are in a good position to submit a proposal.
Jones told GiveMeSport:
"I think it's like early, early moves to figure out what the deal for Barnes would look like. It's a good moment, obviously, for West Ham to make a proposal.
"They are kind of champions of Europe, in their eyes, so they could at least got a trophy to show him and a plan for the future to show him."
It was reported earlier this week that Tottenham Hotspur made a £50m proposal for both James Maddison and Barnes, but Leicester rejected the offer, clearly valuing the pair higher. £40m is expected to be enough for the latter on his own.
Is Harvey Barnes the right man for West Ham?
West Ham are in an interesting situation regarding wingers at the club.
Jarrod Bowen had a disappointing season compared to his feats the previous campaign, yet still stepped up in the big moments for the Hammers, scoring the goal that won the club its first-ever European trophy.
Said Benrahma enjoyed another strong season since his move from Brentford three seasons ago.
The Algerian winger produced 12 goals and five assists across 52 games for the club this season, recording an average rating of 6.70 according to WhoScored. His 2.22 successful take-ons per 90 was the highest he's managed in an Irons shirt and the highest any West Ham player managed to achieve this season, according to FBref.
Beyond the Englishman and Algerian international, however, the London club lack real depth, with Maxwel Cornet's injury problems limited him to just 14 league appearances, whilst Pablo Fornals was deployed out of position on the wing at points due to the lack of depth.
Barnes would come in and solve that problem.
The 25-year-old dynamo, who Sky Sports journalist Adam Bate lauded as a "huge talent", has been incredibly consistent at Leicester from an output perspective, recording at least 13 combined goals and assists in each of his last four campaigns with the Foxes.
The no.7 also excels at progressing the ball with his dribbling, with his 3.32 progressive carries per 90 this season better than both Benrahma and Bowen
The Foxes winger has a very similar statistical profile to the one that West Ham's no.20 produced throughout the 2021/22 Premier League season, which was his best season at the club.
Barnes and Bowen together could form an unstoppable duo, with their goal threat off of both wings being incredibly difficult to contain, especially when factoring in the creativity within the Irons squad from the likes of Lucas Paqueta, Fornals and Benrahma.
Due to both players' similar styles, concerns and questions could be raised about how to pair will work together, and how West Ham could set about bringing out the best in both players.
One way the club could look to address that is in the market, by bringing in a striker who excels at link-up play rather than out-and-out goal scoring, which would allow the English winger duo to focus on running in behind the opposition defence and scoring goals, in a similar vein to what Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane excelled at for a number of years at Liverpool thanks to the work of Roberto Firmino.
The Leicester winger has drawn a lot of praise throughout his career, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp previously describing the winger as "one of the biggest talents" as well as an "unbelievable player".
Barnes is going to be a hot commodity this summer, and the Hammers will face some stiff competition to bring in the winger, but should they be able to get a deal over the line they will secure a fantastic final-third threat with his best years still ahead, and a potentially game-changing partnership between Bowen and Barnes that could fire the Irons to their goals.