West Ham remain in the hunt to sign Barcelona defender Marlon after a move to Premier League rivals Southampton hit the skids, according to Sport.
The Spanish news outlet claims that the Saints had a deal all but done to sign the 22-year-old Brazilian, however they instead opted to sign Denmark international Jannik Vestergaard from Borussia Monchengladbach.
It is now understood that Marlon, who spent last season on loan at Nice, could now wind up at either West Ham, Hertha Berlin or Fenerbahce before the end of he summer transfer window.
Sport adds that the Hammers were at one stage in advanced talks to sign the Barca centre-back, and could look to restart them after what happened with Southampton.
Good move for West Ham?
West Ham have already made two decent centre-back signings having welcomed Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena to the club.
They have combined youth with a battle-hardened international in what could be quite a solid centre-back pairing at the London Stadium next season, provided Manuel Pellegrini plays the pair.
However he could do with another defender after Winston Reid was ruled out for three months and Marlon could be a decent addition if he was available for a cut-price deal.
He is not the tallest of defenders but he is decent on the ball and could do a decent job at the London Stadium if Pellegrini was to sign yet another fellow South American.
This is Futbol rating 7/10
Likely to happen?
Marlon keeps getting linked to West Ham but nothing ever really gets reported about him by a UK-based media outlet.
Sport claims that it was a surprise that Southampton signed Vestergaard instead of Marlon, but the Dane’s move to the south coast was widely reported on these shores and was not exactly a shock when the deal was completed.
It’s hard to see this deal happening this summer.
This is Futbol rating 2/10