Jota Silva-new update or news rehash?

Another one of those ‘on-off’ stories, which has rumbled on almost as long as the En-Nesyri ‘possible – probable – doubtful’ saga, is the ‘news’—and I use inverted commas here for a reason—being reported by a couple of outlets that ‘West Ham are still pursuing the Portuguese forward Jota Silva.’

The possibility of bringing him to the London Stadium is definitely exciting. At 24 years old, he is valued at £12 million. His club is apparently seeking closer to £17 million, which still fits our budget. Plus, he is a bona fide left winger. It makes a lot of sense, and of course, we’d all love to see some definitive transfer window action.

However, the sources and references quoted do seem a bit lacking. The Portuguese outlet Abola made an oblique reference to ‘West Ham and Fenerbahce continuing to be the teams that have shown the greatest interest.’ And that was dated June 29. While I’d love for the rumour/story (depending on your viewpoint) to gather momentum, without some sort of corroboration, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to banner it as a transfer rumour.

Across the whole internet, very little of substance has been added in the last week regarding this player. Twitter also draws a blank for fresh news regarding the Portuguese forward since June 19. There has been nothing new for four days on various Facebook accounts of in-the-knows. However, one outlet reported that personal terms had been agreed upon between West Ham and the player last week.

Now, all of this might be true, or it might not. I’m simply trying to respond to some of the many and varied comments on C and H in recent days that claim our pieces are either ‘made up by AI bots’ or created on the hoof from cutting and pasting other news sources simply as filler. Consider the hour-plus taken on research for a story—or non-story—regarding ONE player, mentioned by ONE media source this morning as being back on West Ham’s radar. Multiply it twenty-five fold daily as the rumors fly around, and you have an idea of the challenge.

Of course, I’m going to keep on top of the news outlets and the rumour mill to see if anything develops either on Jota Silva or other ‘targets.’ At least you can rest assured that this’ll come from my laptop via research and enquiry rather than from ‘AI Bots,’ as one commenter suggested.

C and H differs from many fan sites as there is still the option to post your comments, which are, on the whole, engaging, entertaining, and occasionally witty. At the very least, many of them put a smile on my face as I try and patrol the obscenities and profanities. Keep them coming; maybe let’s all aim to be respectful and—who knows—even positive in this new era. There’ll be signings and games to watch soon enough.