Julen Lopetegui could flex contacts to land West Ham £45m marquee coup
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Julen Lopetegui could lead a West Ham transfer move at former club Wolves.
West Ham United could allow Julen Lopetegui to make the most of his contacts at Premier League rivals Wolves this summer to pull off a marquee £45 million summer signing.
The Hammers' defence is believed to be a priority for the Spaniard this summer having arrived at the London Stadium. David Moyes has left Lopetegui with an ageing back line and the new manager is poised to add younger options to his ranks.
One of those could be a player who knows Lopetegui well in Wolves captain Max Kilman. The 27-year-old has plenty of Premier League experience and could be considered at the peak of his powers - and is younger than Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Angelo Ogbonna.
The Sun reports that West Ham will 'revive' interest in the Wolves man, although will have to stomach a lofty £45 million asking price that the Midlands club are believed to have slapped on the defender.
Kilman played every minute of the Premier League season for Gary O'Neil's side last season and will be hard to prize away from Molineux. The centre-back now has a total of 127 Premier League appearances to his name, having joined Wolves in 2018.
The player was the subject of transfer interest last summer with Serie A giants Napoli seeing a £30 million bid rejected. As a result, Kilman put pen to paper on a new deal to keep him at Molineux until 2028.
West Ham had been linked with a move for the defender in January, before Moyes' departure and the arrival of Lopetegui had been confirmed. Those links came as a result of rumours that centre-back Aguerd could leave for Saudi Arabia, leaving West Ham in need of a replacement.
Lopetegui was confirmed as West Ham head coach this week after weeks of speculation. He told the club: “I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because our commitment is 100 per cent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.
“We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. That's why we came here, and we are excited by this challenge. Of course, we are going to do our best to help the Club and the team to achieve the best level and to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements.”