{"id":246521,"date":"2026-06-03T11:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/03\/west-ham-make-contact-to-sign-23-year-old-whos-been-dubbed-the-next-gareth-bale\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:20:24","slug":"west-ham-make-contact-to-sign-23-year-old-whos-been-dubbed-the-next-gareth-bale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/03\/west-ham-make-contact-to-sign-23-year-old-whos-been-dubbed-the-next-gareth-bale\/","title":{"rendered":"West Ham make contact to sign 23 year-old who’s been dubbed the next Gareth Bale"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nuno Espirito Santo will stay on as head coach of West Ham<\/a> following Premier League relegation after positive talks with club bosses.<\/p>\n

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Meetings to determine Nuno\u2019s future were held last week, a day after the 3-0 win over Leeds that was not enough to prevent dropping into the Championship<\/a>, though he had widely been expected to depart.<\/p>\n

The Hammers enjoyed a significant upturn in form between January and April, taking 22 points from 13 matches to pull themselves out of the relegation zone, having seemingly been buried after losing to Nottingham Forest on January 6.<\/p>\n

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However, three defeats in their final four allowed Tottenham to stay up at their expense.<\/p>\n

A statement said: \u201cWe held meetings with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo early this week and are pleased to confirm that he has expressed his continued commitment to the Club \u2013 as we have to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuno made it very clear that he is highly motivated for the challenge of guiding West Ham United back to the top flight at the first time of asking. That must be the unquestionable goal for next season. Nuno has spent one previous year in the EFL Championship and it was an outstanding success as he secured 99 points to win the title with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the ultimate outcome on Sunday was a painful one, the board of directors believe that there have been broader signs of improvement and progress in recent months, and we want Nuno to continue developing that progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hammers are expected to lose several key players in the summer transfer window<\/a> and will need to reshape their squad to give Nuno the best possible chance at coming straight back up.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tWest Ham plotting summer move to sign 23-goal Championship striker
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The Hammers are on the hunt for goals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

And their first signing could be one of Scotland’s rising stars, according to a report from journalist Ben Jacobs.<\/p>\n

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\n West Ham make enquiry for Hibs star
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Indeed, Jacobs reports the Irons have submitted an enquiry for Hibernian midfielder Josh Mulligan. <\/p>\n

The 23 year-old joined Hibs from Dundee FC last summer and was a fixture in the side, starting 21 times in the Scottish Premiership before an ankle injury disrupted his season.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Josh\n <\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“Understand West Ham have made an initial enquiry about Hibernian midfielder Josh Mulligan,” Jacobs said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“No bid yet as West Ham clarify outgoings first. Midfielder only recently back from an ankle injury but is attracting interest from England.”<\/p>\n

Mulligan is known for his athleticism and physicality, and is capable of playing anywhere in midfield or as a wing-back.<\/p>\n

During a loan spell at Peterhead as a teenager, senior teammate Simon Ferry even compared his explosivness to that of former Tottenham and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“I don\u2019t want to put too much pressure on him but we\u2019ve got a boy on loan from Dundee, Josh Mulligan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Dundee will recall him in January. He\u2019s a Rolls-Royce like Gareth Bale \u2013 powerful, strong, direct.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“He\u2019s a machine at that age. He wants to learn, listens to you.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Mulligan scored once and provided five assists in the Scottish top flight last season.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nuno Espirito Santo will stay on as head coach of West Ham following Premier League relegation after positive talks with club bosses. Meetings to determine Nuno\u2019s future were held last week, a day after the 3-0 win over Leeds that was not enough to prevent dropping into the Championship, though he had widely been expected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":246522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6808],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}