West Ham have joined Newcastle, Aston Villa and Leicester in chasing Fenerbache defender Attila Szalai, according to reports.
The 23-year-old came through the ranks with Hungarian side Vasas before he joined the Austrian Bundesliga outfit, Rapid Wien, in 2012.
The centre-back went onto have a successful spell with Apollon Limassol in the Cypriot First Division.
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Szalai made his senior debut for Hungary in 2019 and in January this year, he made the switch to Fenerbache.
He has impressed for the Turkish side since joining, as he has played 16 games and scored three times in the Super Lig.
His form has caught the eye of clubs around Europe. In a report cited by Sport Witness, Leicester, Newcastle and Aston Villa have registered their interest in Szalai in recent weeks.
Turkish outlet A Spor has now reported that West Ham and Sevilla have joined the race to sign the defender.
They add that Sevilla are keeping “elbow contact” with West Ham and others as they hope to beat the Premier League sides to the signing. It is also stated that Fenerbache have slapped a minimum price tag of €25m on Szalai.
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Meanwhile, Tomas Soucek said after the defeat to Chelsea that a top four finish is still on the cards for West Ham:
“It was a tough game for us [against Chelsea.
“We wanted to win because we were playing at home and we have a very good record at home. We wanted to be back in the top four again, it’s our dream, so we were disappointed with the result.
“It was hard, and we didn’t create many chances. But in the second half we started well and this is the way how we would like to play.
“We said in the changing room after the game that we should have played from the start like we did from the start of the second half. It is a shame for us, but we were still only 1-0 down and we could have scored and drawn or even won.
“It’s a shame, but still I think that we played better in the last 20 minutes, but the red card made it harder again.
“It’s great that we can compare ourselves to teams like Chelsea and the other teams around us.
“We have five games until the end and we still have a dream to be in as high a position as possible.”
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