West Ham are favourites to grab Sporting CP youngster Nuno Moreira, according to Portuguese outlet Record.
The Hammers hve faced competition from Leicester City but with the 19 year old’s contract running down at the end of the season several Portuguese outlets believe the Hammers are front runners.
And with Brendan Rodgers having only recently been installed as the Foxes boss he is believed to have other targets and priorities in mind.
The Hammers are already well represented in country where they have snapped up exciting young striker Xavi Silva and attacking midfielder Mesaque Dju.
Hammers scouts are regularly scouting the best young players in the country and life Silva and Dju the 19 year old is one that has been watched for several months.
He is not seen as a player who will immediately hit the first team but with Manuel Pellegrini noted for his recognition of youth the player’s representatives know Moreira is likely to get early chances to impress if producing his form
Indeed, it is now appearing certain that the decision has been made and that the youngster is set for a summer arrival after the Hammers and Sporting held talks.
The young midfielder is a regular in Sporting’s under-23 side but he is yet to make his first senior appearance for the club.
Forgive me if I don’t get too excited by this, second season under Slav after spending money the first season we saw a load of development team players bought, none of whom went on to star for us, the soundbites I have heard so far including from MP are that is what may happen again, somehow we only have £25m to spend + transfer fees from other player sales, we don’t seem able to sell these players despite them being available in other windows Hernandez, Obiang, Fernandes, Arnautovic, Perez, Oxford etc I am not sure what has changed except a depreciation in their value there is an outside opportunity we might get £45m for Arnie from China but the rest of the players we are maybe looking at £25 – 30m combined not enough to replace them in other words.
Xavi Silva? Any relation to Xande Silva?