Hammers lose out in striker chase

CandH Exclusive by Hugh Southon

West Ham are tonight hoping they won’t be hit by a double blow in 48 the next 24 hours having learned that Salamom Rondon has opted to join Newcastle boss Rafa Benite in China with Dalian Yifang.

The Hammers learned, as they returned to make a new bid for the player, that he had made his mind up to join the former Newcastle boss with whom he was on loan last season.

Now the Irons,  having bid €50 million for Maxi Gomez – the price on his buy out clause – are left to sweat it out that they can entice Maxi Gomez away from Valencia.

However, we were assured this evening (Sun) that the club have four or five alternatives lined up should they lose out in the race for Manuel Pellegrini’s priority marquee signing.

The ClaretandHugh senior source revealedby e mail: “Rondon will be on his way to China and we are not giving up on Maxi. We have met the €50 million buyout.

“The Rondon thing is gone and we need to sort out the No 1 striker first as Arnautovic’s replacement will cost double what we got for him. We have four or five options on our list of strikers.

O Benitez’s new club got off to a wining start beating Henan Jianye 3-2 tonight.