West Ham submit new bid for Premier League striker: View

West Ham United are the new favourites to sign Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran after Chelsea cooled their interest in the Colombian international.

The 20-year-old has bags of potential but has struggled to break into Unai Emery’s starting XI due to the brilliant form of Ollie Watkins at Villa Park.

Duran joined Villa from MLS side Chicago Fire in January last year and has made 49 appearances so far for the Midlands side, scoring eight goals in the process.

As we have consistently reported, Emery is happy to sanction Duran’s sale for the right price and West Ham are now closing in on a deal for the attacker.

The Hammers’ new manager Julen Lopetegui has ambitious aims for his first season at the London Stadium and has made signing a new striker one of his top priorities.

He was also keen to bring in a new centre-back and has got that wish already, with the £40m signing of Max Kilman from Wolves tied up.

According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Hammers have ‘agreed personal terms’ with Duran and now they’ve sent a new bid for the Villa striker.

West Ham launch new offer for Jhon Duran

Romano claimed on Tuesday that West Ham have already ‘submitted more than one bid’ for Duran and the ‘last proposal’ is worth £35m plus a 10% sell-on clause.

It isn’t clear at this stage whether Villa have accepted the bid. Previous reports suggested, though, that previously had a £40m fee agreed with Chelsea before the Blues changed their mind.

Villa signed the youngster for just short of £15m in January, so they look set to make a good profit on him despite the fact he’s only scored a handful of goals in the Premier League.

West Ham believe that he has the potential to become a world-class striker in the coming years though so he could prove to be worth every penny.

As mentioned, Chelsea’s recruitment chiefs also view Duran as a very exciting prospect. However, Enzo Maresca reportedly pulled the plug on the £40m deal as he wants a different profile of forward – one with the quality to slot straight into his starting XI.

Duran is currently away on international duty at Copa America with Columbia, who will face Uruguay in the semi-final in the early hours on Thursday.

For now, he remains focused on the tournament, but admitted in a recent interview that he’s aware of the interest in him.

“The options of the other teams I don’t know, I am not aware now,” Duran said. “I’m focused on the national team, at the Copa America, wanting to add minutes, supporting the team a lot.

“For those topics of possible signing I already have other people who take care of that.”