There’s a lot of news today about failed bids, Hammers’ historic interest in, and potential new interest in one Jonathan David who, you may recall, was linked with a transfer to London Stadium last August.
News reports today suggest West Ham could have bought the striker for £30 million which on the face of it looks a bargain for one of his quality and the thrust that ‘West Ham missed out’ is an obvious first impression to take away.
However, dig a bit deeper and the situation regarding the Canadian – who is currently running down his contract at Lille – is slightly less than straightforward. The ‘invisible extras’ demanded by the player more than likely scuppered the deal rather than a lack of intent on the Hammers’ part.
Currently totalling 7 goals in 11 Ligue 1 matches so far, there is no doubting the striker’s pedigree. His current club Lille have already tried to keep him by offering him €3,500,000 a year to stay, (€70,000. a week) which he has rejected.
Whoever bids for his services will need to find €6 million a year in salary for a five year deal: €120,000 a week, according to football-italia.net, which would put him near the top of the wage pyramid at West Ham United.
In addition of course if he does leave as a free agent in the summer, he will no doubt expect a ‘golden hello’ of several million.
Plus, there is the small issue of his agents demands: Another €10 million was, and still is, demanded by the player simply to pay his agents fees on top of any deal to move.
Perhaps this is the reason the player has been linked with Barcelona, Newcastle, Juventus, Inter Milan, alongside West Ham but as yet has not moved then.
Could it be that others are baulking at the sky-high price of acquiring his services? Juventus are still interested, but having run out of ‘non E.U’ slots in their squad are talking about buying him and loaning him straight back to Lille until the summer to super other teams’ bids. (juvefc.com) Whether that means they can defer the agents fee- who knows.
It seems to take David out of West Ham’s price range irrespective of the Hammers’ desire for a striker: Last window I remember reading that West Ham walked away from negotiations owing to this huge ten million agent fee and, highly or wrongly, I don’t think the attitude at London Stadium would be any different next time around.
