West Ham are confident they’re going to sign £25m player who Eddie Howe really likes

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Newcastle United look likely to beat West Ham United in the race to sign Harvey Barnes, but the Hammers could soon get some sort of revenge.

David Moyes’ side were favourites to land Barnes, but now Newcastle are in pole position and are confident about concluding a deal.

West Ham have been left frustrated, with the delay in the Declan Rice deal hindering their recruitment drive. That has allowed Newcastle to swoop in and snap up Barnes – almost.

While the Hammers will be disappointed to miss out on Barnes, their main priority will be replacing Rice. And they have a target lined up.

West Ham confident they are going to sign James Ward-Prowse

According to the Daily Mail, West Ham are preparing a bid for Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse. They are looking to pay £25million for the 28-year-old.

He is someone who has been on Newcastle’s radar, with Eddie Howe a keen admirer of the set piece wizard. If there was a chance of a bargain, he would be a good addition to the Newcastle midfield.

But he is not a priority, which means West Ham have a brilliant chance to sign the England international – and it looks like they are in pole position to do just that.

TalkSPORT reporter Ian Abrahams has stated that he’s been told West Ham are confident they are going to sign JWP, once they receive a cash injection from selling Rice to Arsenal.

That £105million transfer could cause a chain of events in the transfer window, and it might result in a midfielder Newcastle have been watching going elsewhere.

It likely won’t upset Toon fans too much, who are already braced to watch Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff all battle it out for a place in Howe’s starting XI.