Journalist Pete O'Rourke has made a "shock" West Ham United exit claim involving Morocco international defender Nayef Aguerd.
Who have West Ham sold?
David Moyes and the Hammers sold star midfielder Declan Rice to Arsenal for a fee in the region of £105 million, while Gianluca Scamacca joined Atalanta for £21 million soon after.
The aforementioned duo come as West Ham's most high-profile departures of the summer window, with Nikola Vlasic, Arthur Masuaku, Manuel Lanzini, Mipo Odebuko and Armstrong Oko-Flex leaving the London Stadium permanently.
Meanwhile, promising young midfielder Flynn Downes completed a season-long loan move to Southampton – freeing up space for the arrivals of Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus.
Moyes' side have enjoyed a sensational, and perhaps unexpected, start to the new Premier League season; currently sitting pretty in the top four whilst remaining unbeaten.
Following their latest win prior to the international break, a 2-1 victory away to Luton Town, West Ham's head coach heaped praise on his side's application.
"[It was] good," said Moyes.
"Good against a tough team who are going to put teams under a lot of pressure. Overall I think we did a brilliant job tonight. It's not easy to come here and we were under loads of pressure. Thankfully we stood up to it, got a couple of goals and played pretty well ourselves."
West Ham have also been boosted by the fact they haven't lost any more key players after Rice, but according to O'Rourke, that could well change.
Sharing an update on Aguerd's future at the club, O'Rourke has now claimed that Saudi side Al-Ittihad are planning a "shock" move for the Moroccan.
He writes for Football Insider and on X that a "late big-money move" is on the cards, and as the Saudi transfer window closes in two days, it will be a swoop pretty close to their deadline day.
Nuno Espirito Santo's Al-Ittihad side, it is believed, could work to seal a "stunning deal" for Aguerd, a player who has proved key for West Ham since he joined the club.
Little else is said on whether this move is indeed possible, as Moyes will surely be unwilling to sanction it, but perhaps (and we're just speculating) a mammoth bid could at least get them thinking.
How good is Nayef Aguerd?
Former teammate Achraf Sidki, lavishing praise on Aguerd, has previously stated that West Ham have signed "one of the best defenders in Europe".
“West Ham have signed one of the best defenders in Europe,” Sidki said to The Athletic.
“I’m so proud that one of my former teammates will be playing in the Premier League.
“I’m surprised he didn’t move to England sooner. When we were younger we both had big dreams of becoming professional footballers. Nayef has done well and I’m confident he will be a great signing for West Ham.
“There were so many times he saved the team when we played together. That’s when I realised he was very good. I remember one occasion we played against a team called Tetouan.
“We needed to win and it was probably Nayef’s best game for the club. He was man of the match and after the game, I told him, ‘One day you will make it to the Premier League. You don’t know how good you are’."