Ashley Fletcher leaves West Ham camp to complete £7m Middlesbrough move

Moving on | Ashley Fletcher scored his only West Ham goal against his former side Manchester United
AFP/Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj27 July 2017

Ashley Fletcher is closing in on a £7million move to Middlesbrough after leaving West Ham’s Germany training camp to complete a move to the Championship side.

Standard Sport understands the 21-year-old was given permission to fly back to England on Thursday after West Ham and Boro agreed a £7m fee for the striker.

Boro confirmed the news on Thursday morning and Fletcher is now expected to undergo a medical and negotiate personal terms with Garry Monk’s side, with the transfer set to be completed within the next few days.

Fletcher only joined West Ham last summer after his contract at Manchester United, where he spent six years coming up through the ranks, expired.

But his chances of first-team football with the Hammers were delivered a blow last week when West Ham signed striker Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen for £16million.

With Marko Arnautovic also arriving from Stoke in a club-record deal, Fletcher has decided to leave Slaven Bilic’s side in search of regular game time.

The striker admitted to Standard Sport back in December his decision to join West Ham was down his belief Bilic would be able to resurrect his career.

The 21-year-old did enjoy a positive start to life at the London Stadium and, indeed, scored his first West Ham goal against his former side Manchester United in the Hammers’ 4-1 EFL Cup quarter-final loss at Old Trafford in November.

But he found himself restricted to a mostly substitute role as the season progressed, with the striker failing to score a Premier League goal in 16 appearances last season.

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