Spurs among four sides in for Brighton star as they plot to hijack £29.4m West Ham transfer move

Welcome to Saturday’s round-up of some of the biggest and freshest Premier League transfer rumours from the last 24 hours – and our verdict on whether or not they’re actually going to happen.

Today, we’re going to start off with the latest developments concerning Brighton & Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson – according to The Daily Mail, the club held talks towards the end of the week over whether he should be allowed to leave on loan, and while we don’t yet know the outcome, there are four teams circling.

Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham, Everton and Bournemouth are all interested in borrowing the young Irishman from Brighton, while the Seagulls should be on the cusp of a decision over whether to keep him at the Amex or send him away for some minutes after Ferguson returned to training following an ankle injury. It’s worth noting that West Ham, who had been expected to make a bid, don’t seem to be interested, for reasons that will become clear in our next story…

The 3AM Verdict: We don’t know what Brighton will decide but we do believe this list of candidates – Spurs are desperate for cover up front after Dominic Solanke’s injury, Bournemouth are in the same boat with Evanilson out, Everton just need some goals and there has been some mild speculation over the future of Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz. A key takeaway here is that in spite of speculation to the contrary early last week, it’s looking like a permanent deal is off the table.

West Ham eye second striker target

Just yesterday, we reported that West Ham had finally settled on the striker they wanted to sign this winter, with RB Leipzig’s André Silva reliably reported to be on the way to London – but if Sport Witness have their facts straight, they aren’t stopping with one striker, and are also planning a move for Ajax’s highly-rated Brian Brobbey.

Brobbey, who has struggled this season after scoring 31 Eredivise goals over the previous two campaigns, is “open” to the move and West Ham are apparently in contact with his representatives, and it’s expected that he’ll be offered a salary of at least €100,000 (£84,000) per week.

There are two stumbling blocks – one, that “the finances of a deal with Ajax” could be difficult to sort out as they may not have the profit and sustainability space to meet their €35m (£29.4m) and two, a separate report from TeamTalk suggests that Spurs are trying to hijack the move and bring him to the capital themselves. Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt may be keen, too.

The 3AM Verdict: Brobbey has had a horrible season in Amsterdam and seems likely to look for a reset, but the question is whether West Ham (or one of their rivals) can stump up the cash. We suspect that they can given their broader financial position and the possibility of amortising the fee, but West Ham have been linked with so many strikers now that we somewhat distrust almost any rumour involving them now. This seems eminently plausible, but we’ll see if it pans out.

Seagulls & Villans set to swoop for South Korean starlet

We’ll round things off today with a tale from The Daily Mirror, who reckon that Brighton and Aston Villa are at the front of the queue for one of South Korea’s brightest prospects, 18-year-old winger Do-young Yun, who plays in his homeland for Daejeon Hana Citizen.

Apparently, local sources reckon that it’s the Seagulls who lead the way but Yun’s representatives have visited Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, so there’s clearly a genuine two-way battle here. No word on how much the teenager, who has been capped at Under-20 level, might cost, but he’s one for the future.

The 3AM Verdict: We have no idea if we’re looking at a January transfer or something which might take place in the summer, but we suspect the Mirror are in the right ballpark with this story. A gifted dribbler who looks like a lot of fun to watch, we wouldn’t be surprised if there was other interest across the continent, but Brighton’s reputation for talent development could well make them favourites here.