Speaking recently on the Here We Go podcast, Fabrizio Romano discussed West Ham United’s attempts to sign Giovanni Simeone in the January transfer window.
After selling Sebastien Haller to Ajax towards the beginning of the January transfer window, David Moyes was left noticeably short of options up front in his first-team squad, with only Michail Antonio remaining as a recognised centre-forward.
As a result, West Ham were linked with moves for a number of strikers over the remainder of the window, however, as the transfer deadline passed, the Hammers had failed to bring another forward into the side.
Although, speaking on a recent episode of the Here We Go podcast, Romano claimed that West Ham rejected the opportunity to sign Cagliari’s €20 million-rated (£18 million) centre-forward Giovanni Simeone.
He said: “Another option, a possibility, for West Ham was Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego Simeone. He’s playing for Cagliari – he’s not having a good season, to be honest, with Cagliari. But, there was a possibility just because West Ham were asking his agents and trying to find a possibility.
“They were offering a loan with [a] buy option, it was a straight loan with €1 million as a loan fee, but Cagliari immediately say no, because he’s a starter at Cagliari, he’s their striker, he is playing always. As I mentioned, he’s isn’t having a good season with Cagliari, but he’s a good player.
“So they made a bid and [Cagliari] said no to a loan. They only were considering a [deal with an] obligation to buy, but West Ham said no and the deal collapsed in one day. But, he was one one of the possibilities on the list for West Ham.”
Should West Ham have signed Simeone?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Fabrizio Romano’s comments regarding Giovanni Simeone…
Considering the fact that Simeone has scored five goals and provided one assist over his 18 Serie A appearances for Cagliari so far this season, as well as averaging a rather disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.59/10, it would indeed appear, as Romano suggests, that the 25-year-old is not having the best of seasons in Italy.
As such, perhaps it could be argued that West Ham made the right call in not signing Simeone on anything other than a loan with an option to buy, as if the centre-forward failed to be an immediate success for the club, they would not be stuck with him on their wage bill for a longer period than six months.