Al Ittihad in fight to keep N’Golo Kante in Saudi Arabia amid potential Premier League return with West Ham keen

Al Ittihad do not want to sell N'Golo Kante to West Ham this summer, talkSPORT understands.

The Hammers are interested in bringing the Chelsea icon back to the Premier League with Julen Lopetegui a huge fan.

A £20million offer had been reported to be in the offing for the France international, who was one of the few players for Les Bleus to impress at Euro 2024.

But Al Ittihad are not interested in seeing the 33-year-old go, who put his injury troubles behind him to play all but four Saudi Pro League matches last season.

However, they have a fight on their hands to keep hold of the defensive midfielder, who is not against returning to London this summer.

The Hammers are desperate to bolster their midfield following Kalvin Phillips' disappointing loan spell from Manchester City.

With the Englishman returning to the Etihad and no permanent deal on the cards in east London, Lopetegui wants to sign Kante, who has been on his radar for some time.

When the Spaniard was briefly in charge of Real Madrid in 2018, he tried to sign the midfielder when he was plying his trade for Chelsea.

After leaving Stamford Bridge last year on a free transfer, it was thought that his fitness troubles would follow him after managing just seven Premier League appearances in the 22/23 campaign.

But Kante has looked back to his best with Al Ittihad and France and his experience could be vital to West Ham.

According to talkSPORT's Saudi Arabia football correspondent Ben Jacobs, West Ham's interest and Kante's willingness to return to the Premier League are geniune.

The France star could even accept a pay cut to make the move happen, due to tax implications in his return to the UK from the Middle East.

“I think the West Ham interest in N'Golo Kante is genuine, he was fantastic at Euro 2024 and there is an openness to return to London," Jacobs told talkSPORT Breakfast.

“But there are some complications in the negotiation, particularly because not everybody in the Al-Ittihad hierarchy wants to sell. These Saudi deals are complicated because it also goes up to the ministry and, believe it or not, you buy players using central funds and then if he's sold the money goes back into a collective pool, so all the clubs benefit. 

“So there are certain people in Saudi Arabia, deal makers at the central level, who are quite keen because they believe that this actually illustrates that it's profitable. Kante joined on a free transfer, he could be sold for between 20 and 25 million. 

“But from Al-Ittihad's point of view they've just replaced their president, they've had board upheaval, they don't want to lose Kante and it might mean that Karim Benzema suddenly wants to leave as well.

“So it's a very complicated negotiation and there's the salary to consider as well. The issue with all of this is if Kante doesn't stay for a full two years then he'll have tax implications returning to the UK, and as a result it may have to be structured in a more complicated way.

“West Ham had tried to sign Jota [also from Al-Ittihad] for example in the past and that had to be a loan with an obligation to buy him. By keeping him on loan for that second year it meant from Jota's perspective he wouldn't have to pay the taxes. So Kante may well feel that that's the way around it as well. 

“He might end up not having to pay taxes on the historical wage and then drop his wage to join West Ham.

“But this is something I think that's going to progress in the coming days because West Ham are genuine about at least exploring this one.”

In total, Kante spent eight years in England - seven with Chelsea and one with Leicester.

He helped the Foxes to a shock Premier League title in his debut campaign in 2016 before doing the same a year later with the Blues.

The Frenchman would also win the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League with Chelsea, as well as being named the PFA Player of the Year in 2017.

West Ham have already been busy in the transfer window this summer with three new arrivals in Max Kilman, Luis Guilherme and Wes Foderingham.

talkSPORT understands they are also keen on signing Manchester United star Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well as Arsenal's Reiss Nelson, while Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo is also of interest.