West Ham have moved on from their latest Jhon Duran failure to try and sign an alternative by offering double his worth.
That’s according to sources in Brazil feeding information to South American football expert Tim Vickery.
West Ham are searching high and low for a new striker in the January transfer window.
The Hammers saw a new £40m bid and an alleged £57m improved offer both turned down for Villa star Duran.
In a statement, West Ham said they ‘must accept defeat and move on’ from Duran.
Now it seems the club has turned to other options from South America to solve their striker issues.
Michail Antonio is out for the season and faces a battle to return to top flight football after his car crash.
Niclas Fullkrug, West Ham’s latest disastrous attempt at solving their striker problem, is also out for another three months just weeks after returning from a three-month lay-off.
That leaves new manager Graham Potter with ageing Danny Ings as his only genuine striker option.
With Duran a complete non-starter, West Ham are now focusing their attentions elsewhere.
And as far afield as Brazil it seems.
Billionaire moves goalposts on West Ham over Jesus
Despite having their fingers burned with the £25m signing of Luis Guilherme in the summer, the Hammers are said to have switched their attentions back to two Brazilian targets linked with moves to east London in recent months.
Back in November, it was revealed that West Ham were lining up a deal for Botafogo striker Igor Jesus.
Billionaire John Textor – who owns Botafogo and Lyon – was going to bring 23-year-old Igor Jesus to Everton had his takeover been successful.
It wasn’t. And Textor has since stated he would sell Jesus and other Botafogo players to help pay down huge debt at Lyon to avoid being demoted to Ligue 2 by French authorities.
South American football expert Vickery was talking about West Ham’s pursuit of a striker live on TV on Wednesday.
Vickery revealed West Ham had been in talks to sign Jesus but have now turned attentions to another Brazilian forward after a development in the situation.
In fact West Ham have offered double the striker’s worth to seal a deal after billionaire Textor moved the goalposts.
Vickery revealed that Textor has now decided to keep Jesus for the Club World Cup in July.
Presumably in the hope Jesus’ performances might drive up his value with the eyes of the world watching.
West Ham offer double striker’s worth to seal deal
With Jesus off the table, though, Vickery says his sources in Brazil claim West Ham have pivoted to try and sign Yuri Alberto again from Corinthians.
And West Ham are so keen to finally get the player who has been linked for the last four windows, that they have offered double what Corinthians were going to ask for.
“It seems they’ve (West Ham) been taking a look at Igor Jesus, of Botafogo – now Brazil’s first choice centre-forward,” Vickery said on Sky Sports Transfer Talk at 12.33pm.
“Botafogo is owned by John Textor, the US businessman who also has a stake in Crystal Palace and owns Lyon. Textor has been saying all along ‘We’re going to see Jesus to the Premier League’.
“Now that position seems to have cooled a little bit, they’ve made some other sales and the line at the moment (to West Ham) seems to be ‘Hang on a minute, we’re going to keep Jesus for the Club World Cup in June and July and sell him afterwards’.
Hammers put £20m on table for Yuri Alberto
“If that’s the way it is going to go down, West Ham are going to have to look elsewhere.
“But there is someone else on their radar, Yuri Alberto.
“He nearly joined Southampton in the summer, he’s 24, he was joint top scorer in the Brazilian league last season…
“Yuri Alberto is a quick striker, likes playing on the shoulder of the last defender. Had a little spell a couple of years ago with Zenit in Russia and bedded in well but the war in Ukraine and the political situation put a stop to that and he came back home. So he does have some European experience.
“Sources in Brazil are saying that West Ham are prepared to offer £20m for him. Now Corinthians don’t want to sell, but their valuation of the player was little more than half of that.
“So if there really is £20m on the table for Yuri Alberto then West Ham could well be making an offer that Corinthians can’t refuse.”
Related Topics
