West Ham won’t enter bidding war with West Brom for £40k-a-wk international – reliable journo

West Ham will not enter a bidding war with West Brom for Brighton defender Shane Duffy, according to Daily Star journalist Paul Brown.

The reporter said on his personal Twitter account on Sunday that the Hammers have “limited funds” for this summer and although David Moyes wants to re-sign for his former Everton defender, they’ll only sign him for the “right price”.

West Ham’s stance on Duffy, 28, is bound to be an advantage for West Brom.

The Daily Mail has reported that the Baggies have held initial talks about signing the Republic of Ireland international as Slaven Bilic aims to improve his defence ahead of next season.

Albion are unlikely to be big spenders this summer but there are certain areas of the squad that need to be improved.

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Kevin Phillips has previously told West Brom News that Bilic should look to upgrade the spine of his squad after winning promotion to the Premier League and Duffy has plenty of Premier League experience to add to Bilic’s centre-back options.

It remains to be seen how much the Derry-born defender will cost but he still has three years left to run on his £40,000-a-week [Spotrac] contract and transfermarkt values him at £8.55million.

We’d expect Brighton to want more than that but they do have a lot of centre-backs on their books at the moment so a firesale in that area of their squad could happen.

In other West Brom news, Albion are in talks over a loan-to-buy deal for this midfielder.

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