A West Ham delegation is to jet out to Rome this week for face-to-face talks with Lazio about signing forward Felipe Anderson, according to the Guardian.
The newspaper claim Hammers officials will fly to the Italian capital on Wednesday to discuss terms over a deal for Anderson after tabling an initial £17.6million bid.
The Guardian report that West Ham will need to increase their opening bid for Anderson as Lazio seek £35.2million for the Brazil international.
OPINION
Given that Lazio are demanding seriously big money for Anderson, and they regard West Ham’s opening offer as a long way short of what is acceptable, few Hammers fans will be counting their chickens that a deal will be done this week. Nevertheless, there should at least be a degree of satisfaction from supporters that the club are exploring what would be a real statement signing. Anderson has come on leaps and bounds since joining the Serie A big hitters in 2013 from Santos in his native Brazil for a fee of around £6.8million. A pacy wide forward who creates and scores goals, and has a reputation for winning matches off his own bat, Anderson is 25 and entering his peak years. He appears keen to make the money to the Premier League and test himself in a physically demanding division. If West Ham’s top brass can pull off a deal, there will be real delight among their supporters, who are craving a top-class attacker, especially after Manuel Lanzini’s shattering knee injury suffered last week.
