OPINION
West Ham have reportedly been snubbed in their efforts to sign Club Brugge striker Wesley Moraes.
According to the Daily Star, the Hammers have tried to convince the 22-year-old to head to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window but have failed to achieve that, as have Bayer Leverkusen.
It is now understood that the Brazilian front-man, barring any twists, will join either Lazio or West Ham’s Premier League rivals Newcastle once he leaves Brugge after a stellar season.
Wesley scored 17 goals and supplied 10 assists in 48 appearances across all competitions for Brugge this term as they beat the likes of Monaco and Red Bull Salzburg in Europe and achieved a second-placed finish in the Belgian top-flight.
West Ham could find themselves in need of one or two new strikers in the summer with questions surrounding the futures of Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, Lucas Perez and out-of-contract Andy Carroll, so Wesley would have no doubt filled a potential hole for Manuel Pellegrini.
However Hammers fans need to pray that this snub by Wesley is just a one-off and not something that is an early warning as to how the summer transfer window might go.
West Ham need to a good summer because their squad is on the verge of being one that can push for a seventh-placed finish or a piece of domestic silverware.
Pellegrini led them to a 10th-placed finish this term, but it is worrying that a club like Newcastle, who finished 13th and are owned by tight-fisted Mike Ashley, are seemingly able to win in a race against them to sign a striker like Wesley.
David Gold and David Sullivan need to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened at the end of the 2017/18 season when fans invaded the pitch and tried to storm the directors’ box in a bid to show their displeasure as to how the club was being ran.
Something seriously wrong has happened in the bid to convince Wesley if Newcastle sounds like a more appealing place to go right now when there is so much reported uncertainty surrounding manager Rafa Benitez.
West Ham know where they stand going into next season and have a better squad and better finances than the Magpies.
This news is worrying, but hopefully the club can learn from this early setback.