West Ham United are ‘open to selling’ Reece Oxford in January, but the transfer may have to wait until the summer due to Arsenal’s limited funds.
The Mirror write that West Ham are keen to move Oxford on this month, but they’re currently pushing for the defender to move to Borussia Monchengladbach. The 20-year-old spent time with the Bundesliga side on loan last season, but he’d prefer to stay in England this time around.
The report adds that West Ham would want ‘in excess of £3m’ for the signing, given how much time they’ve put into developing the youngster. The fee could be set significantly higher than that, considering German outlet Bild claim Gladbach have already submitted a £10.8m bid. In the Premier League, Everton are also interested.
Arsenal have had an interest in Oxford for a long time now. All the way back in 2015, West Ham owner David Gold confirmed that the Gunners were one of three clubs who tried to lure him away. Eventually, the youngster signed a long-term deal with the Hammers instead.
We had to beat off Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal to keep Reece Oxford on a long term deal. dg pic.twitter.com/ML9XSNeKoh
— David Gold (@davidgold) September 13, 2015
This season so far, Oxford has solely appeared for the West Ham u23s, playing as a centre-back. He hasn’t even made Manuel Pellegrini’s first-team squad on a single occasion. However, he’s clearly caught the eye in his youth appearances, and he scored in his last game against Arsenal.
The Mirror add that with Unai Emery’s limited funds in January, the two clubs may have to wait until the summer to complete a deal, which they describe as Oxford’s ‘dream Arsenal move’. We’ll see what happens.