West Ham facing obstacle to finalise Sunderland striker transfer | OneFootball

West Ham are interested in Sunderland's Eliezer Mayenda, but they could struggle to convince the forward to drop to the Championship.

West Ham are now preparing for a hectic summer transfer window as they look to build a squad that can bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

It has been confirmed that Nuno Espírito Santo will remain in charge, which does provide some stability, and he will no doubt have a big say on the deals that take place over the coming months.

However, there will also be a focus on outgoings, with reports stating that the Hammers will need to generate in excess of £100m via player sales as they deal with their financial reality following relegation.

West Ham will struggle to do Eliezer Mayenda deal as interest in Sunderland man builds

With the likes of Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville and Jarrod Bowen, among others, at the club, that may not be as difficult as it sounds, but it remains to be seen how that impacts West Ham’s ability to bring players in.

In an ideal world, Santo would have the bulk of his squad in place going into pre-season, but that looks impossible at the moment.

Nevertheless, the club will be working on new recruits, and Football Insider has claimed that Sunderland’s Eliezer Mayenda is a target.

The 21-year-old played an important role as the Black Cats won promotion in the 2024/25 campaign, scoring ten goals, but he struggled for game time in the Premier League.

Therefore, the update adds that Mayenda is pushing to leave Wearside this summer, but it appears West Ham face a major problem in convincing the attacker to move to London.

That’s because it’s also said that there is top flight interest in Mayenda from clubs across Europe, so whilst the Irons are ‘strong admirers’ of the player, they need ‘several cards to fall into place’ to have a chance of making this happen.

Eliezer Mayenda would be a statement signing for West Ham

This is going to be a very challenging transfer window for West Ham, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what the squad looks like when the deadline passes.

The recruitment team will be looking at players all across the pitch, but you would expect the attack to quickly become a priority, as, even if they do manage to keep Bowen, it’s highly likely that Summerville will leave, and there are doubts over the future of Taty Castellanos.

So, Mayenda would be exactly the sort of signing West Ham should be trying to make.

Firstly, he is proven in the Championship, hitting double figures when he was a teenager, and he has enormous potential.

Sunderland’s growth as a club in the past 12 months means that he hasn’t got the game time he would’ve wanted, but he is clearly very talented, and a full year in the Championship, as a main man, could be just what he needs.

But, it’s no surprise that there is interest from top flight clubs, and you could understand if Mayenda wants to test himself at the highest level possible next season.

That makes this a very difficult deal to do, but it should encourage West Ham fans that Mayenda is on their radar, and he’s the calibre of player that they need if they are to win promotion next season.