West Ham have agreed a £1.3million deal to sign 21-year-old winger Xande Silva from Vitoria Guimaraes, according to Record.
The Portuguese outlet report that the fee for the Portugal youth international could rise to £3.1million with add-ons, while a 10% sell-on clause is also included.
Record claim that Silva will initially play for the Hammers’ Under-23 side before hopefully graduating to the first-team in subsequent seasons.
OPINION
This is not a signing that has been foreseen at the London Stadium, and the vast majority of fans will have never heard of Silva before. The young winger is obviously a brilliant talent, but has yet to earn much first-team football after being stuck in Vitoria’s B team for most of his career so far. His record for the B side is four goals in 50 appearances while his 30 appearances for the senior side have yielded just the single goal. These are not necessarily the best numbers, but the Hammers have obviously seen something in Silva if this report is true. Manuel Pellegrini has been spot on with his recruitment this summer, and there is no reason why this deal would be any different. The club already have a talented young Portuguese on their hands in Domingos Quina, and hopefully the arrival of Silva may convince the Under-19 European champion to remain at the club amid heavy exit speculation.
