Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir has claimed that West Ham United might struggle to get a deal done for forward Darwin Nunez.
Centre-forward has been an area of concern of West Ham United for some time now, as they need to bring in someone to offer some support and rotation for main man Michail Antonio, who is the club’s only natural striker on the books.
They have been trying to make a signing in that department, with The Guardian listing the likes of Patrik Schick, Ben Brereton Díaz, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Christian Benteke as potential options that the club have explored.
One other name that has been circulating has been that of Benfica forward Nunez, who has 20 goals to his name already this season, with reports from Portugal (via Sport Witness) at the start of December claiming that he was on their radar.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Weir discussed what the latest was with regards to the potential deal, but claimed that it might be too late for them to get it done because of the knock-on effect it would have at his current club.
He said: “That’s not impossible yet, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely. It’s logistically very difficult – he’s in Uruguay, it wouldn’t give Benfica enough time to find a replacement, either. Benfica have rejected a €45m plus add-ons bid from West Ham. They are considering an improved offer, but it’s looking tricky, that one at the moment.”
TIF Thoughts on Jamie Weir’s comments about West Ham United and Darwin Nunez…
Is a new striker a must for West Ham?
Yes
No
It does sound tricky, though as Weir said, it’s ‘not impossible’ that the deal might be done. However, you feel at this stage of proceedings that the deal is pretty much dead.
It just comes as a bit of a shame that they weren’t able to do the deal earlier, because it sounds as if Benfica may have been in a position to do business if they could have had the time to search for a replacement.
So West Ham had better have an alternative lined up, or it could well be that they’ll be in for a nervous few months hoping that Antonio doesn’t get a serious injury that could end up putting their season – both domestically and in Europe – in jeopardy.
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