West Ham are hoping to discover whether a deal to bring Carlos Bacca to the Olympic Stadium is alive or dead by the end of the week.
The Hammers have seen a bid of around £25 million agreed with AC Milan and have held talks with the Colombian striker’s advisors over the last few days.
But ClaretandHugh has learned this evening that ‘Team Bacca’ is taking its time as it sorts through the Hammers offer along with others they have received.
The striker is believed to be on a basic wage of around £60k a week but we were told that stories he is looking for parity with Dimi Payet are inaccurate.
Our best source told us: “We have a value on each player we deal with and it won’t be at the same level as others on the staff necessarily.
“We have some hurdles to vault before we know where we are with this one. We might know this week if we are still involved as the player is thinking over ours, and other offers.
If we are the deal itself could take longer again. We remain hopeful and await a phone call.”
Lets get away from this deal as quickly as possible – a terrible business deal in every way. Go back for Lacherrete, or Icardi.
Another one bites the dust ? We are not offering him enough evidently ? Move on then mate.
Next one please ? Kerching !!!
Not Gomis please , sakho streets ahead of this bloke ? Its getting embarrassing after we left sakho with no option but to depart , if it turns out we can’t let him go I can’t see him knocking his tabs out for us ?
Let’s hope we can get someone on board soon to calm everyone down .
never did like the idea of this one for some reason not that i know anything about him agree with johnham1 Go back for Lacherrete he does look the real deal if my expert advise means anything lols
advice* need to go the pub cant spell anything today
Fletcher signing is great business and not sure about Bocca,
Looks a good player but will hit fit our style ?
Still think if WBA not Sak then force them to part with Barahino
Gomis on loan would be OK
Remy Or Bony would make sense,
Still plenty out there
Didn’t like the sound of this one from the outset , we’ve had this happen before, they go through the motions of being interested in signing for us , while all along they are really trying to smoke out bids from the teams they really want to go to ! Let the mercenary little so and so move on , we only want players who want to play for us .
So, we continue to pick up fringe players that might or might not prove to be any good but when it cues to a real target, we continue to be haunted by the impression many players have, that we are not a high profile club that will enhance their careers. consequently our bargaining power is limited strictly to how much money we can put on the table
Two things to add. One, it still seems a major error not to have spent some of the effort, chasing shadows, on making Sakho feel wanted. I don’t understand the thinking about his fitness. He’s had no more than many quality players but you don’t see top clubs dumping quality players just because they have one bad year due to injuries. AKA Andy Carroll
Two, if we are determined to improve our attack at all costs, then, even if it means paying him over the odds wages, we should nail down Gomez for he’s likely the best we are going to get, in spite of his age
I’ve never been overly excited about Bacca either to be honest… I don’t know what it is about him, maybe the face that were paying nearly £30 mil for a 29yo… Lifetime west ham fan used to seeing figures closer to £3mil lol, I’d like for there to be a future in a player brought in for that sort of figure. Buying a 29yo just seems a bit of a temporary fix for me.
Lacazette was one I really wanted to go through, young enough to give us 5 good years, seems to be the real deal aswel. Batshuayi I wouldn’t welcomed too, again pretty young so spending big would be ok business. Gomez I’d like to see in claret and blue… Just not sure about Bacca. But then last summer I wasn’t sure about Dimi so maybe I’ll just trust in Slav.
I completely agree that efforts should have been made to keep Sakho. Obviously if he wants to leave, we’re gonna have to sell him or he’ll just play shocking next season. But I’m not convinced that the club have done all they can to make him feel welcome. I don’t think they should have publicly announced, on many occasions, the need for a good striker… I think that was a bit of an error on their part.
Gutted to hear yesterday that Antonio will likely be right back… I think having that man on the wing, attacking at will, that’s as good as a 20 goal striker…give him a F***ing chance to do what we all see he is born to do, steam past defenders like their not even there and bury it! Not rocket science to me!
Cant believe what I am hearing here. Sakho despite terrible behaviour off the pitch and only an initial 6 mths of real success and/or fitness on it, has been given endless support by the club and Manager. Bacca is in Miami so whatever the decision will no doubt fly in to sign when that stay is complete. Equally it is no different to the trials and tribulations we had with Payet last year, which few remember now it seems. Indeed its what you get from any top player these days especially when you are a club with potential rather than achievement. remember both Chelsea and Man City spent years buying older players before they reached a level that in itself attracted top talent, that combined with adding young talent (which is what we are also doing) who will see that potential and want to grow with it is the only way you can progress. remember its alright saying buy a 23 to 25 year old top quality player but if he succeeds he will likely be gone in a couple seasons anyway unless we can progress far quicker than is likely in our competitive league.
So having an older player with less sell on value can actually be an advantage at our level if we want to make progress without disruption, as long as you accept that over 2 to 4 years is more important than any initial loss in a player’s monetary value which after all is only relevant should you wish/have to sell him. If you make that progress then when you have to replace them you have the status to attract those younger players coming into maturity. However presently Bacca is at least as capable as Lacca (who is still about potential despite being 25) and much cheaper.
We have to be realistic – we are not a good established team and we cannot offer european football on a regular basis like the top clubs can (I don’t include the Thursday night never-ending cup). We are working to get there but other teams are already at that stage and they will always get the pick of the players. We are left with trying to find a gem like Payet or paying over the top for a mercenary.