Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that David Neres is on the list of summer targets for David Moyes at West Ham United.
Neres played 15 times in the Eredivisie for Ajax this season whilst chipping in with three goals and two assists before joining Shakhtar Donetsk in January, though he is yet to be involved in the matchday squad with the Ukrainian season on hold.
Former West Ham United man Sebastien Haller was left fuming with the Brazilian winger last season after he failed to pass to the Ivory Coast international, as the assist would have meant that the striker would have bagged his first hat-trick since arriving at Ajax.
It didn’t quite work out for Haller at West Ham, but whilst speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones noted that Neres is part of a long list that David Moyes has been preparing ahead of the summer transfer window.
He said: “I know that Neres is on a long list that they’ve been drawing up.”
TIF Thoughts on Dean Jones’ comments…
Rated at £18m, David Neres was massively out of favour for Ajax before his January move to Ukraine, as he started just three times in the Eredivisie. However, his stats weren’t necessarily bad for a player who featured in such a scarce manner, as he scored a goal for his side every 151 minutes, had a passing accuracy of 84% per game, and has a successful dribble rate of 75%, as per SofaScore.
This was not the first season at Ajax that Neres had found himself down the pecking order – he started just 10 games in the Dutch league for his former side last season. This lack of game time eventually took its toll as Neres made the switch to Ukraine, but Jones claims that West Ham are interested in him nevertheless.
The Brazilian winger has shown in his brief time on the pitch this campaign that he is capable of performing well, so he may just need to be given a chance in a new league for him to perform and reach his full potential.