Sources: PSV reject West Ham $26 million bid to sign USMNT star Ricardo Pepi as Premier League club prepares second offer

Sources confirmed to GOAL West Ham approached PSV with an initial loan-to-buy offer of around $26 million for Ricardo Pepi, but the Dutch club rejected the bid. Sources have also informed GOAL that the Hammers are expected to follow up with a larger second offer.

West Ham's initial bid for Pepi was first reported by Fabrizio Romano.

The bid comes weeks after PSV Director of Football Earnie Stewart told GOAL that the club had no interest in selling the rising U.S. men's national team star.

"First and foremost, regarding all the transfer issues, I can take those off the table because there's not going to be a transfer," Stewart told GOAL. "That's one thing that's for sure."

Pepi has been the subject of multiple bids throughout the January transfer window, with GOAL confirming earlier this month that clubs in the Premier League and France's Ligue 1 were interested in the 22-year-old forward. That interest came on the heels of a fantastic end to 2024 with both club and country, and Pepi hasn't slowed down at all in this first month of 2025.

Following Wednesday's goal, and assist, in PSV's Champions League win over Liverpool, Pepi now has 17 goals on the season, with 11 of those goals coming in the Eredivisie. He currently sits second in the Dutch league's Golden Boot race despite playing fewer than 700 league minutes in total this season.

Ahead of the January transfer window, GOAL sat down with Pepi to discuss his season so far, and he reflected on what life was like being the subject of big transfer interest.

"It's just like such a normal thing now," he said. "You know if you're performing or if you're trying to get away for a loan or something like that, they'll be there. I think I've just made it a part of life already. That's the life that I live. Of course, there are going to be rumors of you going on, but at the same time, rumors can also affect your head a little bit. I just try to stay off, avoid distractions... If my agent doesn't tell me that there's a deal or that there's interest, I don't pay attention to it. I like to just keep things very compact in terms of information, so I can just focus on the main goal, which is performing on the pitch."

According to Opta, Pepi has now scored at least one goal in each of his eight starts for PSV this season, totalling 14 goals in those eight starts.

With the win, PSV have moved into the next phase of the Champions League, where they'll face either Feyenoord or Juventus in the playoff on Feb. 11 or 12. Before that, though, they'll take on NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie on Saturday before hosting Feyenoord in the KNVB Cup quarterfinal on Feb. 5.