West Ham United have pulled out of the hunt for Barcelona defender Marlon Santos, according to a club insider.
ExWHUemployee, who is a reliable source of insider Hammers information on Twitter, reported on Monday in an exchange with a fan that the club had binned their interest in the 22-year-old Brazilian.
As reported by the Mirror in their live transfer blog (Sunday, 19:56), Southampton are now set to sign Marlon after agreeing a deal around £10million for the enforcer.
Yes we did https://t.co/STw0XtOGEK
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) July 2, 2018
OPINION
This seems to confirm what has been rumoured for a while, with West Ham suddenly cooling their interest in Marlon after looking at the front of the queue to sign the young enforcer. There were rumours that the Hammers had reservations about the Brazilian’s small frame, with the 22-year-old standing at 5ft 11in, which is below average for a Premier League centre-back. Those concerns seem to have come to a head as the club have dropped their interest in the Barcelona starlet, who now looks set for a move to the south coast with Southampton. It will be interesting to see how he develops under Mark Hughes next season, with the Hammers sure to be watching on closely in the hope they didn’t make a mistake by not signing him. It is however clear that the club are in for another centre-back, with links to Alfie Mawson and other targets continuing.
