West Ham are in line to finalise the £26.4million signing of Lazio forward Felipe Anderson today, according to Gianluca Di Marzio.
The Sky Sports Italy transfer king, who is renowned as the more reliable and prolific source of information about signings, claimed on his personal website last night (Wednesday) that the Hammers have made a major breakthrough in their pursuit of the Brazil international.
Di Marzio reports that Lazio sporting director Igli Tare will be in London today to thrash out the final details with the West Ham hierarchy, with the fee set to be £26.4million plus 20 per cent of the future sale fee.
OPINION
This is a major breakthrough for West Ham in what would be a real statement signing. The Londoners are crying out for an attacking matchwinner who can consistently deliver the goods and share the goalscoring and creating burden with main man Marko Arnautovic. With Manuel Lanzini out for possibly the entirety of next season, the need for Anderson has accelerated over the last week, although a deal was being worked out even before the Argentine suffered his devastating knee injury. The Brazilian wide forward plays predominantly on the right flank, but is versatile enough to operate in a number of roles across the front line. He missed half of the 2017-18 season due to injury but still made a big impact for Lazio, scoring eight goals and supplying 10 assists from 32 matches in all competitions. Aged 25, he is entering his peak and will be a top-notch capture for West Ham if, as now seems likely, the can push the deal over the finish line.
