David Moyes rules West Ham out of race for £40m Tammy Abraham
By Tom Gott
West Ham United manager David Moyes has ruled his side out of the race for Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham if he is valued at £40m.
The Blues are understood to have slapped that price tag on the head of Abraham, who has struggled for minutes under Thomas Tuchel and is set to enter the final two years of his contract this summer.
The 23-year-old is towards the top of Moyes' wish list as West Ham look to replace Sebastien Haller, who left the club in January, but he officially took Abraham's name off the table if Chelsea demand that kind of money.
"It would rule us out completely. We will be ruled out," he said (via football.london). "So if that's the figure and that's what's being said, we are ruled out. We don't have that money, we don't have that to buy a striker at that price, no.
"It may well be [the total spend]. But you never know here. I don't think we will be making a purchase of that for any one player. I'd be surprised if we were.
"From the conversations with the owner I’ve got an idea of what sort of cash will be available, at that moment in time it didn’t change whether it was finishing tenth, fourth or whatever it didn’t change at all. There is probably a lack of money in the game."
Chelsea value Abraham so highly because he is a young England international who has proven himself at Premier League level. Comparisons have been drawn to Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, who moved to Villa Park in a £28m deal last summer despite having never played in the top flight.
Villa have been tipped to move for Abraham, as have Leicester City and Serie A side AC Milan, but Chelsea's £40m price tag may make any transfer difficult.
The Blues are hoping to earn as much money as possible to pursue at least one big-name striker. 90min revealed in April that Chelsea are open to signing two new forwards, with Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland and Inter's Romelu Lukaku seen as blockbuster signings who could be complimented by the signing of Manchester City's Sergio Aguero on a free transfer.
With Haaland likely to cost £150m and Lukaku not much less, Chelsea want to raise significant funds in the transfer market this summer, but their demands for Abraham may prove to be too high.