Slaven Bilic will make a fresh bid to land AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca to solve West Ham’s striker crisis claims friend of ClaretandHugh, Darren Lewis in the Daily Mirror today.
The Irons agreed a £26million deal for the prolific Colombia striker during the summer – only to see Bacca reject the move.
But he is now understood to be unhappy at 
Milan this season and Bilic believes he could yet seize a second chance to move to the Premier League.
Howeve, CandH has also been told – as reported yesterday – the club is looking to ‘Buy British’ next month given the length of time players require to djust to life in the UK.
Bilic has also made it clear that Bacca may not be ideal as he is currently out of the team and lacking match fitness.
Bilic has renewed speculation for the striker after being asked rumours linking him to West Ham. Bilic told reporters: “Maybe. We tried. He was one of our targets in the summer. It was in the papers and it was true. But then the deal didn’t go through because of a few things and he decided to stay at Milan. He is still there. He doesn’t play a lot which is also an issue.
“We need a player with match fitness. This is the Premier League. There is always a risk – even more players that do have match fitness and are playing week-in, week-out.
“I’m not just talking about Bacca but lots of that type of player.”
Anybody in for the London Stadium ??
Somebody on here last week described Bilic as ‘a fraud’. A bit harsh maybe, but I am inclined to agree. My reaction to this is ‘here we go again’. Why would he join us anyway, when obviously not keen last summer.The bloke has consistently scored every two games, at a high level ( unlike Zaza) so will be setting his sights a lot higher than a relegation scrap.
But it is Bilic’s comment about him that bothers me. Doesn’t play a lot. Not match fit. It took me 5 minutes with my pathetic IT skills to establish that he has played 14 League games this season-8 goals. And played 72m of Milan’s game last weekend. You would think our boss could have taken the trouble to check that. Perhaps he just wanted an excuse, because we have somebody better lined up? Oh yeah, now I see- Brentford’s feared Scott Hogan.
My IT skills even worse than I thought, so part of an apology owed to Bilic. Turns out Bacca has been out injured, but did return at the weekend as a sub. May have a quick glance at the Italian super cup tonight to see if he plays. But still think they are as likely to sign me as Bacca. I could just about manage to be one of those guys who comes on with a fork at half time and prods the pitch.
I’m not convinced. The clubs fingers have been burnt already last summer with foreign players. I’d rather buy Defoe for £6 million, he will score goals. Just to ensure we stay up. Bottom line is, he rarely gets injured, is a prolific goal scorer and still manages to score goals for the worst team in the PL. I know some fans won’t want him but I think he regrets leaving the way he did and maybe thinks he has unfinished business with us. Then we can look for a striker next summer with the Payet money…..