OPINION
West Ham appear to have been handed a boost in their reported hunt for Huddersfield midfielder Aaron Mooy after it was claimed that the Australia international’s price-tag has been slashed by a whopping 65 per cent.
According to Aussie news outlet The World Game, the Terriers did want £41million for the former Manchester City midfielder, but since their relegation to the Championship, they are now demanding just £14.8million.
West Ham are said to be among several Premier League clubs eyeing up Mooy, 28, with Newcastle, Watford, Wolves, Southampton and Leicester also interested in him after a solid season at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Although Huddersfield finished bottom of the table, Mooy stood out for them by miles after impressing in the last two seasons in the Premier League.
He missed 10 matches across all competitions for the Yorkshire club this term and in those games they earned one draw, against Cardiff, and suffered nine defeats.
The Australian scored three goals in the Premier League to add to the four that he bagged last season and also showed a different side to his game in 2018/19 as he had to adapt and be a bit more defensive-minded due to Huddersfield awful form.
Stats by WhoScored say that while he completed 80.2 per cent of his passes in the centre of the midfield, Mooy also averaged 2.1 tackles per game. Mark Noble, in comparison, averaged 1.5 tackles in his Premier League outings despite playing in a deeper role than the Huddersfield ace.
Mooy is also great at set-pieces, which could help the Hammers as they only scored 11 goals from set-pieces this season, a tally bettered by nine other teams in the league.
West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan should be thrilled to see that a player reportedly on Manuel Pellegrini’s radar is now available for a cut-price fee and considering his performances in a poor side, there is no doubt that he would be even better when surrounded by better players at the London Stadium next season.