West Ham have £40M midfielder bid rejected

Reports have emerged this afternoon that West Ham have a bid reject for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha. The offer was believed to be in the region of £40m for the player labelled ‘The Premier Leagues best tackler’. The West London club understandably value the player highly, and have asked for £90m.

At this point it’s difficult to validate valuations but ninety million would seem ridiculously excessive. Even £40m would represent 100% profit for Fulham, who purchased the midfielder 12 months ago.

The former Sporting player is 28 years of age, which would make it difficult to justify a truly massive fee. Fulham are well within their rights to demand whatever they wish for such an important player. However it will be interesting to see whether West Ham are prepared to increase their offer.

It is worth stressing at this point that these are purely transfer rumours. But it would be very concerning indeed if the Hammers signed Maguire (30), Ward Prowse (28) and Palhinha (28).

West Ham finished last season with the second oldest squad in the Premier League. Ironically Fulham had the oldest.