“West Ham linked with Juventus flop” | Report only tells half the story

Whilst West Ham are no doubt casting the net far and wide this transfer window to bring in new talent, some stories ring instantly true whereas others – perhaps after a minute’s reflection – seem less likely to be right on the button. We stopped counting last summer after the ‘West Ham – linked players’  total hit 200 but in amongst those spurious reports were the ‘unlikely but ultimately correct‘ pieces linking Jean Clair Todibo and Max Kilman with a move to West Ham. It pays to keep an open mind.

Today’s ‘unlikely’ award goes to Italian site football-italia.net with their suggestion that “West Ham and Newcastle are interested in Juventus flops Douglas Luiz and Nico Gonzalez”.

Luiz is labelled as interesting to The Magpies whilst the Irons are credited with ‘eyeing’ Nico Gonzalez, the Juventus left footed right winger likely to have a €26-€27 million price tag. Left-footed, right winger – ringing any bells yet? In this summer of a cash-strapped rebuild, West Ham are credited with considering paying nearly £25 million for a right winger to occupy Jarrod Bowen’s spot.

With both Kudus and Luis Guilherme already in the Hammers’ Matchday squad, even with a sale of Kudus the Irons would seem pretty well sorted for left footed wingers.

So it would seem quite unlikely that, when needing two centre forwards, two midfielders, two full backs, a centre back and a goal keeper, that the Hammers would have the cash and the inclination to bring in a Jarrod Bowen competitor to sit on the bench for 90% of the season at a cost of €25 million.

Now, maybe I’m missing something here and Gonzalez can play across the whole front line – which might make him a uber-shrewd purchase to replace Kudus: If that’s the case you can enjoy reminding me of my underappreciation of his talents at the time he signs on the line.