There is less than a week until the transfer window closes, and West Ham United still have plenty of work to do.

Graham Potter’s side have made a few exciting signings this summer, like El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters, but as the last few games have shown, they need plenty more.

Moreover, while he ultimately underwhelmed during his time at the Club, Edson Alvarez is now in Turkey, which has only made the Hammers’ need for midfield reinforcements that much more acute.

Luckily, they appear to be closing in on a deal for Soungoutou Magassa and, if reports are to be believed, they’re also making moves to bring in someone who’d be an even better signing.

West Ham United target better signing than Magassa

While their interest in Magassa likely stretches back further, reports of West Ham’s desire to sign the Frenchman started to emerge late last week.

Impressively, the Hammers have moved unusually quickly to secure the services of the AS Monaco ace, as he underwent his medical with the Club yesterday and could be announced before the end of this week.

The 21-year-old looks like he’ll be a great addition to Potter’s squad, but it now looks like the East Londoners are already moving on to new targets, including someone who is even better than Magassa.

At least that is according to Graeme Bailey, who has claimed that West Ham are interested in Exequiel Palacios.

In fact, the journalist has revealed that the Irons have already made contact with Bayer Leverkusen to discuss a deal for the incredible Argentine.

Interestingly, while it is not clear how much the £83k-per-week ace would cost the Club, the report states he could be available on loan, which makes him an even more enticing prospect.

It could still be a complicated deal to get over the line, but Palacios would be more than worth it, especially as he’s better than Magassa.

How Palacios compares to Magassa

It should be made clear that both Magassa and Palacios would be excellent signings for West Ham this summer, but there are a few reasons the latter would be that little bit better.

The first is his impressive experience, as, at 26 years old, he has spent far more time playing at the highest level and exceeding there.

For example, the Famaillá-born maestro has made 160 appearances for Leverkusen, 87 for River Plate and won 36 senior caps for Argentina.

Moreover, he has a genuinely spectacular trophy cabinet that includes a Bundesliga, a DFB-Pokal, two Argentine Cups, the Copa Libertadores, two Copa América titles, and a World Cup.

In contrast, the 21-year-old Monaco star has just an Olympic silver medal to his name, and while that may well change in time, he won’t be able to bring the same winning experience to the London Stadium.

The second, and arguably the most meaningful, reason the Leverkusen star would be the better signing this summer is that, when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers, he comes out on top in most relevant statistics.

These metrics include things like expected and actual non-penalty goals plus assists, key passes, shots, shot and goal-creating actions, passing accuracy, and so many more, all per 90.

In other words, while he might not be quite as defensively solid as the Frenchman, the “box-crashing” Leverkusen star, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, is an all-action midfielder who is as much of a goalscoring threat as a creative one.

Ultimately, West Ham should sign both Magassa and Palacios to give themselves the best chance of making this season a success; however, for our money, the latter would be the better addition of the two.