The “deal is done” to send Southampton’s player to West Ham after the midfielder agreed terms, according to Jacob Steinberg.
The Guardian journalist reported via Twitter on Wednesday night (9 August) that the England international will be headed to the London Stadium after settling on personal terms with the Hammers.
The Irons had reached a breakthrough earlier in the day with a £30million fee for the 28-year-old, along with a similar advancement on Harry Maguire from Manchester United [Guardian].
Ward-Prowse will now join Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez as the two men charged with replacing departed captain Declan Rice at the London Stadium.
At last
The West Ham pursuit of the Saints man has been like pulling teeth for most of the summer with the bids going in at around half of what the relegated side wanted
But after finally making the breakthrough on Alvarez to become the first signing of the transfer window at this late stage, business is finally hotting up in Stratford.
Unfortunately that appears to also still include outgoing deals amid worrying developments on a potential exit for club-record signing Lucas Paqueta.
But it looks like the primary objective of replacing Rice is finally now in place after the England star left for a £105m move to Arsenal.
Alvarez as the defensive half of a midfield partnership with Ward-Prowse seems, on paper, to be a solid one, and may relegate Tomas Soucek to the bench assuming the Czech stays.
But both the new arrivals will have huge shoes to fill as they look to cushion the blow of the former skipper being absent, and arriving this late in the day is far from ideal to do so.
In other West Ham news, another Irons forward is “pushing hard” to leave the club this summer with suitors queuing up.
