West Ham in talks with Sevilla for striker Youssef En-Nesyri

West Ham United have made a €30m (£26.8m) offer for Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri as they seek to replace departed record signing Sebastian Haller.

Despite costing in the region of £40m in 2019, Haller was sold to Ajax earlier this month for a shade over £20m. Although he wasn’t scoring regularly, the Frenchman had still been a starter since the end of October, leaving the Hammers in need of a new ‘number nine’.

En-Nesyri, who only joined Sevilla in January 2020 after impressing for Leganes, is of a similar build and physical stature to Haller and has scored 12 goals in all competitions so far this season.

90min previously revealed that West Ham are looking to the European market to replace Haller and have been considering a number of options, including Reims frontman Boulaye Dia.

The Athletic now adds that En-Nesyri has emerged as their preferred target, leading to an offer being submitted for the 23-year-old Morocco international. That formal bid is said to be worth an initial €25m (£22.3m), topped up by €5m (£4.5m) in add-ons.

A first proposal was rejected but talks have continued between the clubs.

Sevilla paid €20m for En-Nesyri 12 months ago when they triggered his release clause at Leganes, who also lost Martin Braithwaite to Barcelona for €18m in similar circumstances soon after.

In addition to trying to replace Haller through the transfer market, West Ham are prepared to also promote from within and have fast-tracked 18-year-old Mipo Odubeko into the first-team.

The former Manchester United academy player has been training with the senior squad for the past year and manager David Moyes now thinks he is ready to be let loose.

Odubeko made his West Ham debut as a substitute in the recent FA Cup third round clash with non-league Stockport County and was named on the bench in the Premier League for the first time on Saturday for the win over Burnley.

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