West Ham United are in the race to sign one of Spain’s most gifted and promising youngsters…

What’s the latest West Ham transfer news?

According to Marca Valladolid, the Irons are in a fight to sign Real Valladolid’s Ivan Fresneda, after Crystal Palace opened talks with the Spanish club with a view to making an offer.

Chelsea and Sporting CP are also said to be interested in the right-back.

As previously reported by SPORT, the 18-year-old is valued at around €15m (£13m) by Valladolid, who recently suffered relegation to La Liga 2.

Would Ivan Fresneda be a good signing for West Ham?

The defender was born in the Spanish capital, and joined Real Madrid’s youth setup in 2014, before leaving the club in 2018. He eventually signed for Valladolid in 2020, and despite only forging 26 appearances for the senior side, has firmly established himself as one of the continent’s most eye-catching talents.

This perspective has been reinforced by Matt Clark of the LaLiga Lowdown, who highlighted Fresneda’s accomplished profile and limitless potential, saying: “He is a remarkably complete right-back despite his young age, balancing his defensive duties with the odd attack too.

“He has that coveted combination of physicality and technical ability. Tall but agile, quick and athletic, he is also strong in the tackle and reads the game very well for someone so green when it comes to first-team football.”

The teen’s defensive acumen is mirrored by his rank within the best 9% in Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for blocks per 90 and clearances per 90, as well as the highest 21% for tackles per 90.

Moreover, The Athletic revealed he is a high-quality ball winner, winning 75% of his duels, with only one LaLiga full-back, his teammate Luis Perez, possessing a better success rate.

Following the end of last year, Fresneda was just one of seven players aged 17 or younger to play over 1,000 minutes of first-team football in Europe’s big five leagues, to signify his growing quality and importance to his team.

Therefore, a player on this trajectory is more than capable of becoming a useful asset for a Premier League side. From a West Ham perspective, Fresneda can be viewed as an ageing and less dynamic Vladimir Coufal.

The 31-year-old has been a solid and reliable servant for the Hammers, having featured in 91 of the club’s last 116 domestic games.

His lack of pace, directness, and attacking threat are major drawbacks to his game, and he fails to embody the full nature of the ‘modern full-back.’

Fresneda, who played for a far worse side last year, demonstrated that he can outperform Coufal in this respect. Over the past 365 days, the prodigy scores better than the Czech for progressive carries per 90 (2.48 vs 2.37), successful take-ons per 90 (0.77 vs 0.13), and pass completion per 90 (77% vs 62.2%).

Whilst his offensive output isn’t prolific, as he failed to record any assists last term, this is mainly due to the lack of quality in Valladolid forwards, who managed just 33 goals in the league, the second-lowest in the division.

Therefore, Fresneda, who has been hailed as someone with “good technique” and “great energy” by Emmanuel Petit, could flourish at the London Stadium.