West Ham United along with Southampton, Everton and Nottingham Forest have all held talks to sign Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis, according to The Express.
The Nigerian international joined Watford in 2021 but since the Hornets have been relegated to the Championship, they want to get rid of Dennis before the new season begins.
He’s played 35 games for Watford across all competitions and has managed to score only 10 goals. However, the club are demanding a fee of around £20-25 million in exchange for the striker primarily because all of his suitors are from the Premier League.
🚨Watford FC are asking for €30 million for Nigerian striker Emmanuel Dennis. #Watford 🟡⚫
🔺 Nottingham Forest #NFFC
🔺Everton #EFC
🔺West Ham #WHUFC https://t.co/shFMpNSGcs pic.twitter.com/qPRIzPcydI— Ekrem KONUR (@Ekremkonur) July 22, 2022
Which club is more likely to get their hands on Emmanuel Dennis?
Everton have identified Emmanuel Dennis as the replacement for Richarlison, who just joined Spurs and Frank Lampard is said to be very keen to bring him on board.
West Ham United, however, has made it clear that Dennis is not one of their priorities right now, more so because they have already signed Gianluca Scamacca.
Hasenhuttl is out in search of a new striker but apart from the Watford man, the Saints are also being linked with the likes of Liam Delap and Armando Broja.
Emmanuel Dennis is currently valued at £12.5 million and his contract with the club expires in 2026. Even though the Hornets have every right to quote £20 million for him but the reality is that none of the interested clubs will be ready to pay such a steep fee for him.
All the four interested clubs are looking at Dennis as the backup for their main forwards so it makes no sense for them to spend so much money on him.
Unless, Watford lower their demands we doubt if the likes of West Ham, Everton or Southampton will make any major moves for the 24-year-old.