West Ham United have now overtaken Rangers in the race to sign Brighton & Hove Albion winger Amario Cozier-Duberry.
The Gers have identified Cozier-Duberry as a major target, recently submitting a £7.5m offer, which was knocked back by Brighton, with the Premier League side holding out for a fee of £10m.
The Seagulls are holding out for a relatively high fee, as the 21-year-old put in some impressive performances on loan at Bolton Wanderers last season, with Trotters manager Steven Schumacher saying: “Amario has been different class. To be fair, he’s been good all season and in the last month he’s come up with some really big moments for us and been the one who’s taken the headlines.
“He’s been excellent since the day he came in during pre-season and we’ve loved working with him. He deserves everything that he’s got because he’s a young player who is desperate to learn and desperate to get better.”
Bolton went on to win promotion, defeating Stockport County 4-1 in the play-off final at Wembley, and it would be fair to say the English winger played a major role, chipping in with ten goals and 13 assists over the course of the season.
The youngster averaged 2.2 successful dribbles per 90 in League One last season too, which was higher than any West Ham player managed in the Premier League, barring Adama Traore, who averaged 2.9.
The only slight question mark over the signing of the London-born forward is that he struggled during his previous stint in the Championship, picking up just one goal and zero assists in 22 appearances for Blackburn Rovers in the 2024-25 campaign.
West Ham leading Rangers in race for Amario Cozier-Duberry
However, West Ham are undeterred, with a report from Football Insider revealing they are now ahead of Rangers in the race for Cozier-Duberry, as they are more capable of matching Brighton’s £10m asking price.
Journalist Pete O’Rourke explained: “Rangers are very keen on Cozier-Duberry. They’ve had two bids rejected now, the second of which was around £7.5million.
“Brighton are holding out for around £10million if they are to sell Cozier-Duberry, which is a big fee, and I’m not sure Rangers will be willing to go that high for him either. There’s a lot of growing competition for the winger now as well, you’ve got the likes of Wolves and West Ham in the Championship.
“Both of those clubs are planning to try and win promotion back to the Premier League, and they could afford the deal if they wanted to push forward with a move for Cozier-Duberry.”
There is just over one week remaining in the summer transfer window, and Nuno may want to move quickly to strengthen his squad, considering they have made a disappointing start to the Championship season.
The Hammers threw away a two-goal lead and drew 2-2 with Burnley on the opening day, before going on to lose 2-1 against Charlton Athletic at the London Stadium on Saturday.
