OPINION
West Ham must immediately halt their pursuit of Brentford’s Chris Mepham despite it being an inspired decision to pursue him.
The Daily Mail’s Live Transfer Blog (Saturday, 12:30) stated that Bournemouth had seen a £10million bid rejected by the Bees for the 20-year-old centre-back and that the Hammers were also following him.
Mepham had a fantastic breakthrough season in his 2017/18 campaign as he made 23 appearances for Brentford’s first-team in order to establish himself as a member of the senior squad.
The Hammers’ desire to go after him is inspiring as Mepham clearly looks like a defender with a bright future in the game, however the current chase for him must be stopped.
Given the fact the Cherries have already seen a £10million bid rejected and the fact the promising defender is contracted to Brentford until 2022, there’s no point pursuing him at this stage.
Mepham still needs to get more games under his belt in order to see if he can constantly deliver the goods and given the Championship club’s clear desire to keep him, there’s no need for the Hammers to rush to get a deal done.
In fact Manuel Pellegrini’s side will no doubt end up having to pay over the odds for him as Brentford hold all the cards when it comes to keeping him if they swoop anytime soon.
The Hammers are better off focusing on looking for defenders capable of instantly fixing their defence and use next summer to look at signing potential stars for the future after their defensive woes are behind them.
This means that Mepham shouldn’t be in their thoughts right now and given his situation, the club must halt their chase of him and come back for him way down the line if he continues to fulfil his potential.
