West Ham United have not made a bid for Besiktas and Croatia international defender Domagoj Vida, according to a club insider.
ExWHUemployee, who is a reliable source for exclusive Hammers information on Twitter, posted on Saturday that reports suggesting a bid had been made were ‘not true.’
The significant update came in response to a tweet asking him whether a report from beIN Sports Turkey, suggesting the Hammers had submitted a £19.6million bid for the enforcer, was true.
Not true https://t.co/YGC3oOhxat
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) July 21, 2018
OPINION
It is not surprising to hear that West Ham have not made such a bid for Vida. The Hammers have already spent in excess of £80million this summer, smashing their transfer record in the process, and for them to splash out another £20million or so would seem unlikely. That is especially true when you consider Vida’s age, with the Croatian World Cup star already 29 years old. That means there would be little return on the investment for West Ham bosses, who will argue they have backed Manuel Pellegrini sufficiently this summer. The fact that the Hammers have already bought two centre-backs this summer also lends itself to the likelihood that this report is untrue, with Issa Diop arriving from Toulouse and Fabian Balbuena from Corinthians. Vida would be a good addition, with the Besiktas defender showing his worth for surprise World Cup finalists Croatia, but the 29-year-old is likely not worth such a hefty investment at this point.