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West Ham hopeful of signing Basel forward Albian Ajeti for £8m

Albian Ajeti appears to be London bound - Getty Images Europe
Albian Ajeti appears to be London bound - Getty Images Europe

West Ham United are hoping to complete a deal for Basel forward Albian Ajeti, for a fee of around £8m, before the closure of the transfer window on Thursday.

The 22-year-old would become West Ham’s sixth signing of their summer and would be the second forward to join after they paid a club-record £45m for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Sebastien Haller.

The Swiss international, who scored 15 goals in 35 appearances for Basel last season, would help to fill the attacking void left at the club by the departures of Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll earlier in the transfer window.

Ajeti would become West Ham’s second signing of the week after Manuel Pellegrini’s side completed a move for teenage defender Goncalo Cardoso. The 18-year-old has joined from Portuguese side Boavista for a reported fee of around £2.5m.

Elsewhere, Norwich City have signed Sevilla defensive midfielder Ibrahim Amadou on a season-long loan with an option to buy. Norwich, whose excellent recruitment was crucial to their success in the Championship, secured the 26-year-old’s signature despite competition from a string of European clubs.

Amadou is their fifth signing of the summer. They have agreed loan deals for Ralf Fahrmann and Patrick Robert and concluded permanent transfers for Josip Drmic and Sam Byram.

Head coach Daniel Farke said Amadou is an “experienced and versatile” option. “He’s a good fit to our squad and a good addition pretty late in the transfer window," said Farke. "We all got the feeling it was the right choice to do it right now and we are all pleased.

“He adds something special to our squad because he’s a physical player. He’s unbelievably quick, robust and he’s unbelievably strong. We have a pretty young and technical side and we felt that it’s good to have this quality, also as an option in our squad.”