West Ham United moved one step closer to Carlos Bacca today after Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo confirmed the Spanish side would not move for the Colombian international.
Cerezo stated that the striker would not be joining Diego Simeone’s side despite speculation linking the 29-year-old with a move to the Vicente Calderon:
“Carlos Bacca is a very good striker but Atletico Madrid won’t buy him” stated the Spaniard.
West Ham have been forced to wait on a decision from Carlos Bacca after the player confirmed that he has ambitions of playing in the Champions League. Atletico Madrid were rumoured as frontrunners for Bacca’s signature but it now looks as if the club will pursue Chelsea forward Diego Costa.
The AC Milan forward has attracted interest from Italian side Napoli but there has been a lack of concrete interest in the player since the Hammers agreed a £26 million deal with the Serie A club.
The Rossoneri are reportedly keen to offload Bacca as they want to raise transfer funds before the club is taken over by a Chinese consortium.
Since there have been doubts surrounding the likelihood of Bacca joining West Ham, the club have been exploring other potential options. Mario Mandzukic, Wissam Ben Yedder and Jonathan Calleri are all rumoured to be attracting the interest of Slaven Bilic as the manager looks to bring in at least two strikers to pave the way for the exits of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho.
With Atletico Madrid ruling themselves out of the Bacca chase, West Ham now find themselves at the front of the queue for the forward once again.
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