Brazilain club Corinthians have confirmed that West Ham have activated Fabián Balbuena’s release clause thought to be £4m and the centre-back will now undergo have a medical with the Hammers.
The club released a statement saying “The Sport Club Corinthians Paulista informs that it received a proposal from West Ham United, of England for player Fabian Balbuena. The amount offered was the same amount as required in the contract renewal, signed two months ago. The defender is already cleared for medical examinations for transfer to the London Club.
The player played 136 for Timao, having scored 11 goals in his three-year history of Corinthians. In that period, Balbuena won three titles with the shirt Alvinegra, the Bicampeonato Paulista 2017/2018 and the title of the Brazilian Championship 2017. The board thanks the services provided in that time and wishes good luck in his new journey.”
The Paraguayan centre-back is expected to sign a 4-year contract with West Ham.
Looks like a very positive signing if we can push it throughout and get a work permit.
It makes things interesting for Ogbonna and Rice, though. Having brought Diop in, he must be an automatic starter at CB, so unless we play with three at the back and two wing backs, there’s only one CB slot for Ogbonna, Reid and Balbuena to fight over. I wonder if MP sees Rice as a DM where he plays for Ireland – which is my preferred option for him.
Adrian/Fabianski
Fredericks, Diop, Balbuena, Masuaku
Rice, Wilshere
Yarmolenko, Arnautovic, Payet
Hernandez
would do for me v the scousers first up.
I do like the idea of this signing but I have to be honest and I do not know anything about him. I feel with this signing we now have strength in depth at the back. I would consider selling Cresswell if we got a good offer, of course brining in another left back as a replacement. I honestly don’t see Rice as a midfielder. I watched the rep of Ireland game and he struggled to get around the pitch. I am not a fan of Wilshere signing as he is not a centre midfielder, a 10 possibly but not a centre midfielder as he is terrible at not recovering his position when ball goes by him – just does not have the pace. We have to sign a top centre mid like Seri. Bringing a player back like Payet is also doomed for failure. Hernandez is not good enough so imo we need two wide players and a centre forward. I do not know much about Yarmolenko but I do like the link to Correa the Sevilla player. If we are looking for a marque signing then someone like Martial is what we need to be looking at.
We cannot suddenly become a top club. It’s a case of little steps. Defence and some of the mid field in this window, rest of midfield and 1/2 forwards next summer and fine tuning and natural replacement in the third year. We just don’t have the funds to do it all in one go. Some players are just too expensive for us in our current form and probably wouldn’t be attracted to us anyway. We are still seen as a smallish club. Marquee players are not beating their way to our door. YET. I personally think Wilshere is a great signing, especially with Lanzini crocked.
Looks very solid on youtube can play left or right cb, scores some goals and very good in the air.