West Ham Make £12m Bid for Premier League Target & Norwich City Star James Maddison

West Ham United have opened the bidding for highly sought after Norwich City midfielder James Maddison. 

The 21-year-old English midfielder has proven to be the Canaries prized asset this season, and his impressive performances in the Championship have attracted the attention of a number of Premier League clubs. 

Maddison has been linked with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in this transfer window, but the Guardian reports that West Ham have made the first move with a £12m bid for the attacking midfielder. However, it is believed that Norwich will demand a much higher fee if they are to part with their star player.

Maddison began his career with Coventry City, before making the move to Norwich in February 2016. After a couple of loan spells away at Coventry and Aberdeen, Maddison has broken into the Norwich first team this season and is in fine form. 

The 21-year-old has seven goals and five assists in the Championship this season, helping him to four consecutive Player of the Month awards for the club towards the end of 2017. With Maddison in such blistering form for the Canaries, they will be reluctant to see him leave half-way through the season.

Stephen Pond/GettyImages

Norwich have also just sold another one of their young stars in Alex Pritchard. Huddersfield have signed Pritchard for £14m, which would suggest that Norwich would demand a lot more than £12m for Maddison.

West Ham look to be busy during the January window. The Hammers are said to be close to sealing a loan deal for Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario in the coming days. Their next fixture is against Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup.