West Ham United's attempts to sign Joao Palhinha and James Ward-Prowse have been "negatively impacted" by the "uncertainty" surrounding the Declan Rice saga, claims journalist Paul Brown.
West Ham United transfer news – what's the latest on Joao Palhinha and James Ward-Prowse?
With the departure of club captain Rice confirmed by chairman David Sullivan in the aftermath of the club's UEFA Conference League triumph earlier this month, West Ham look like they have a midfield to rebuild in the summer.
Two players targeted to help with that rebuild are Fulham's Palhinha and Southampton's captain, Ward-Prowse.
It seems as if Declan Rice is now set to join Arsenal for around £105 million, but the structure of the deal is still being discussed, so it remains to be seen as to when this will get resolved.
With Fulham's hard-tackling midfielder set to cost around £90m, according to the Daily Mail, and Ward-Prowse set to cost around €60m (£52m) per transfer expert Ekrem Konur, the East London club need to wrap up their sale quickly to access the funds they need.
What has journalist Paul Brown said about Joao Palhinha and James Ward-Prowse to West Ham United this year?
Brown quickly pointed out that the progress with both players has stalled and that one of the main reasons for this lack of progress was the uncertainty from the unresolved Rice deal.
Speaking to Football FanCast, he said: "They haven't made progress really, with either Palhinha or Ward-Prowse. Part of that is to do with the uncertainty over Rice."
How good would Joao Palhinha and James Ward-Prowse be at West Ham United together?
Rice was a player that could seemingly do multiple things on the pitch and do them all well, whether that was playing as an out-and-out defensive midfielder or playing a little bit further forward as a central midfielder.
That proficiency across multiple positions is something the club won't be able to replace with a single player.
Instead, Palhinha's excellent defensive abilities and Ward-Prowse's fantastic passing could collectively supplement what the side loses without the England international's presence.
Palhinha, for example, was the leading tackler across Europe's top five leagues last season, per FBref, registering a staggering 147 in his debut Premier League campaign, which led to teammate Harrison Reed dubbing him a "tackling machine."
Ward-Prowse could supplement that brilliant defensive work with his slightly higher attacking output. According to WhoScored, the 28-year-old scored nine goals and assisted another four across his 38 games for an incredibly dysfunctional Southampton side last season.
Even more impressively, across those 38 games, he averaged a rating of 6.95, just 0.06 lower than Rice.
While neither player will be able to replace Rice independently, their collective output could help the club push on in a post-Rice era.