West Hams first signing – other than Keiber Lamadrid who completed a loan to permanent signing last month – now looks more likely as the Irons’ transfer strategy finally looks like paying dividends.
However following the false dawn of Gustavo Sá’s reported arrival earlier this month that subsequently turned out to be a false dawn, few will be giving it the fanfare until the player is pictured in West Ham’s Claret and Blue shirt.
However an important step appears to have been completed between West Ham and Celtic midfielder Arne Engels, according to SkySPORTS German journalist Florian Plettenberg who reports that:
“Arne Engels has reached a verbal agreement with West Ham United. Club-to-club negotiations with Celtic are ongoing.”
Bearing in mind that Nottingham Forest had a £25m bid turned down for Engels in the winter, nobody is counting their chickens: Forest of course leapt in to snatch Gustavo Sá from under West Ham’s nose after the player decided against moving to the English second division.
As we reported earlier the two clubs were not far apart so you’d hope the Irons get a wiggle on if Engels is their chosen recruit. It’s a pretty big chunk of cash to invest but Engels at just 22 has a big career ahead of him.