Key Points
- West Ham United have submitted a season-long loan bid to sign 24-year-old AS Roma left-back Anass Salah-Eddine.
- Manager Nuno Espírito Santo is pushing for the deadline-day transfer following El Hadji Malick Diouf’s £40 million move to Brentford.
- Teenagers Oliver Scarles and Ezra Mayers are currently the only natural left-backs in West Ham’s squad.
- AS Roma have not indicated whether they will accept a straight loan, following Salah-Eddine’s season at PSV Eindhoven and earlier interest from Olympiacos.
- Since moving from FC Twente in February 2025, the Moroccan international has played 153 minutes across three appearances for AS Roma.
West Ham United (East London Times) September 1, 2026 — West Ham United have submitted an official offer to sign AS Roma left-back Anass Salah-Eddine on a season-long loan deal as the summer transfer window enters its final hours.
As reported by Roshane Thomas of The Athletic, the East London club have launched a late attempt to recruit the 24-year-old Moroccan international defender before the 11:00 pm deadline. The report details that West Ham United manager Nuno Espírito Santo is the primary driving force behind the late movement, having identified the full-back position as an urgent priority following the high-profile departure of El Hadji Malick Diouf to Premier League rivals Brentford in a deal worth £40 million.
Despite submitting the formal loan proposal to the Giallorossi, The Athletic notes that it remains unclear whether a temporary season-long deal without a mandatory obligation will be enough to convince AS Roma to part ways with the player.
How has Anass Salah-Eddine fared since joining AS Roma?
Anass Salah-Eddine has found consistent first-team minutes hard to come by in the Italian capital since completing a permanent transfer to AS Roma from Dutch Eredivisie outfit FC Twente in February 2025.
Having featured sparingly for the Giallorossi during the closing stages of the 2024/25 campaign, AS Roma sanctioned a season-long loan move sending the defender back to the Netherlands to join PSV Eindhoven for the duration of the 2025/26 season. Across his spell with PSV, the Amsterdam-born full-back featured 25 times in all competitions, registering one assist.
However, his overall footprint at parent club AS Roma remains minimal. In total, Salah-Eddine has logged just 153 minutes of competitive football across three appearances for the Italian side. Having not featured in AS Roma’s opening fixtures of the current season, a departure from the Stadio Olimpico appears increasingly likely before the window closes.
Can Salah-Eddine solve Nuno Espírito Santo’s defensive puzzle?
The urgency behind West Ham’s late swoop stems directly from the structural void left by El Hadji Malick Diouf’s recent £40 million departure to Brentford.
Diouf’s exit has left Nuno Espírito Santo with a stark shortage of senior experience on the left side of defense. At present, the Portuguese head coach has only academy products Oliver Scarles and Ezra Mayers as recognized natural left-backs within his first-team squad. While both homegrown players are highly rated within the club’s development setup, their distinct lack of senior top-flight experience has prompted Nuno to demand an established operator before the transfer window shuts.
While West Ham had compiled a broader target list that included young prospects such as Manchester United’s Harry Amass, the club has chosen to push forward with a concrete proposal for Salah-Eddine to add immediate international-caliber depth.
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Background of the Particular Development
The context behind West Ham’s deadline-day flurry lies in the rapid restructuring of their backline over the preceding week. The Hammers initially signed Senegalese left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf from Slavia Prague in August 2025 for a fee of approximately €22 million. After an impressive 2025/26 campaign in East London—where Diouf recorded 32 Premier League appearances and 5 assists—Brentford submitted a lucrative €40.8 million (£40m) proposal on August 28, 2026, generating a significant profit for West Ham in under 12 months.
Concurrently, Anass Salah-Eddine’s trajectory at AS Roma reached an impasse. After completing his loan spell at PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch champions were eager to retain his services on a permanent basis, but the player opted against extending his stay in Eindhoven. Earlier in the August window, Greek club Olympiacos reached an initial agreement with AS Roma for his transfer, but the move collapsed after Salah-Eddine declined the personal terms offered by the Piraeus-based club. Consequently, the defender remained in Rome without a clear pathway into the starting XI, creating the exact window of opportunity West Ham are now attempting to capitalize upon.
Prediction: How This Development Will Affect West Ham United Fans and Squad Dynamics
If West Ham United successfully finalize the loan agreement for Anass Salah-Eddine before the deadline, the move will provide immediate tactical relief to manager Nuno Espírito Santo and the East London fanbase.
For the West Ham supporters and squad, securing an international-caliber left-back prevents the immediate pressure of thrusting teenagers Oliver Scarles or Ezra Mayers into relentless Premier League starting roles prematurely. Salah-Eddine’s tactical versatility—having operated extensively as both a traditional left-back and a wing-back during his formative years at Ajax and FC Twente—fits Nuno’s preferred tactical flexibility, enabling smooth transitions between a back-four and back-five system.
Conversely, should AS Roma reject the straight loan format and demand a permanent sale or mandatory purchase clause that West Ham cannot execute before 11:00 pm, the Hammers face the risky prospect of navigating the autumn schedule with unproven academy options. Such a scenario would place an immense defensive workload on West Ham’s versatile central defenders to cover wide areas, potentially exposing the backline during high-intensity domestic fixtures.
