Carlos Bacca’s agent, SergioBarila will fly to London for talks with West Ham over the possible transfer of the Inter Milan striker claims Sky Italia reporter Gianluca Di Marzio.
West Ham have reportedly offered 20 million Euros (£16m) despite Milan asking for 25 million Euros (£19.4m) for the 29 year old goal scorer and a deal seems some way off as it stands.
The Colombian is currently Milan’s joint top earner on 3.5 million euros per year (roughly £52,500 per week) but he wants a pay rise to a minimum 4 million Euros a year basic wage (roughly £60,000 per week) to join the Premier League plus peformance related bonuses.
Bacca has smashed 20 goals for AC Milan this season in all competitions having arrived from Sevilla last summer, and that’s now 97 league goals in the last four seasons, across spells with Belgian side Club Brugge, La Liga’s Sevilla and now AC Milan.
If we can get him for 16/17m on those wages then compared to the over inflated prices weve been hearing hes a bargain and will leave us with money to spend elsewhere and maybe even get another striker in..COYI!
It seems we are being held to ransom by strikers generally, mainly, I suspect , because we have told the world we are desperate and willin today a lot of money to get one.
I just hope the one thing I worry might happen, will, that we pay a fortune for one only to find most of his goals merely replace the goals our prolific would score if he wasn’t there
I noticed that the German coach is putting his faith in a strong attacking midfield, and is not taking a gaggle of strikers to Euro
You might be right about being held to ransom over a position they know we want to fill, according though to the wage demands (if accurate) 60k a week is 25k a week less than AC so if he can score the goals and contribute to the team for 2 – 3 seasons it could be money well spent.
I think we should not get bogged down on a 29 year old when a younger option for similar money would be the way to go.
I have an easy, albeit, very heretical, solution to the Bacca problem (wage demands).
For a top class striker, 60,000 pounds/week is not overly unreasonable.
My crazy solution.
1. Send Andy Carroll back to Sunderland so he can enjoy himself with Sam Allardyce.
In doing so, we save ourselves 120,000 pounds on a potentially talented player who has not proven himself to be the savior we needed.
2. Agree to Bacca’s terms, and hope he turns out to be OK; he has the ‘runs on the board’
3. Do everything we can to keep Sakho and Valencia at West Ham, with the hope that they can re-ignite their wonderful striking partnership in the 2014/5 season. In Sakho, we have a 2–goal/year striker- it just requires the right ‘chemistry’ to get him motivated again. Lets watch how Valencia plays for Ecuador in the up-coming Copa Americas, especially in the Ecuador-Brazil game.
4. Do everything possible to sign Michy Batshuay. WE may end up spending 55 million pounds all up, but we may end up with 2 marquee strikers we really need. Sakho and/or Valencia could be used on a rotational basis to allow Bacca and Michy to retain fitness through a very long season.
5. If deemed necessary (and if the funds are available) we could always get a 3rd striker for around 10-15 million pounds; just a ‘Mr. Reliable who has some record of putting away relatively easy chances made from our mid-fielders and attacking full-backs.
6. Consider using Michail Antonio as an occasional 2nd striker, sitting just behind the main striker. he has had a history of playing as a striker, although I think his best position is at right-wing.
Now I await for the howls of abuse!
COYI
What we must do is send sakho and Valencia back to allardyce so they can rekindle their wonderful 2014 form. Meanwhile keep Carroll because he was proven to be our best striker in 2016. Meanwhile we must put the word out that we are desperate to buy a 20 goals a season striker for 30 million. Light the touch paper and stand back as we are subsequently linked with every striker in the known universe. We can then deny links with any player for fear we might alert rival Tottenham who will try to sign any player we try to sign.
umm…been a while since I posted, but could not resist. A year ago I was swayed to the “rid us of AC” bandwagon. Andy Caroll has got to be one of the best impact players in the league. Bring him on and he just bewilders defenses. I would suggest that he stay with us but for the offer of a Kings Ransom. He simply, changes the game. Either as the Plan B or…the Plan A.
Sakho – cripes…most players seem a bit mental at times (to me)…stick an arm around his shoulder every now and then…he’s WHU through and through.
Payet, Cressie, Lanzini and Nobes can bolster either one of them.
I’d be fine with Valencia moving on..but…having said that…him as backup…can’t really complain – unless someone wants to throw silly money for him.
Now…I know…it’s been said…and…ain’t gonna happen…BUT..Lanzini, Cressie, Payet….AND….El Little Pea (Chicharito)…would be fun to watch (until he tires, of course)
(You can see that I really, really like watching LCP combine….oh…and a little string pulling from Captain Marky McClaretNobes)
🙂
I would take Bacca all day long.The geezer was class for Sevilla when I watched a lot of him in La Liga,i ain’t seen so much of him since he went to Serie A but it seems he has still scored a bundle of goals in a pretty poor AC Milan side.16m is a steal compared to some of the stupid fees being paid.Championship strikers are being flogged for similar fees & they ain’t half the players.Having said that this is probably just more transfer gossip bollox so it is immaterial 😉
Seems a snip on those wages and scores for fun,29 gives us 3 years at his prime enough time for our young talent to come through,
Sak and Valencia still have a lot of years in the tank,
Let AC go and bring in one more Wilson or Dehenney before the Spuds get them,
That would do for me
Back to the sudo cream Rads to get rid of that rash,
And don’t forget to watch the Grimsby Brothers,
The Way I see it is West Ham are far better off buying two good centre forwards for around 15/17 Million than one for 31.5 Million as you know what’s going to happen if we do put all our eggs in one basket – he will get injured in the first few games of the new season – Mind I just hope we keep hold of Sako as he knows where the net is and can be a 20 goal a season player when happy and Carroll as Sub to bring on or use when other are out injured or banned – 4 Forwards for next season in the squad will keep them all on their toes ! —- COYI’s
According to today’s Guardian report,they reckon Bacca will cost around £19m,which it sounds as though he’s worth it,bu they also reckon he will want £7m ayear wages.That equates to £135,000 a week!I hope their sources are wrong.I agree with the comments above inasfar as AC is a tremendous impact player as a sub,but would he be happy on bench warming duties?As for Sak’s not sure his heart is still with the Hammers.I think this guy Jannsen is worth a gamble.Noticed he scored again yesterday for his country and wouldn’t cost a lot of money.