Some West Ham fans on social media reacted to a report that claimed Tottenham were now pursuing the services of former Hammers midfielder Joao Mario.
The Daily Mirror claimed that after the Hammers failed to sign the 25-year-old permanently from Inter Milan following his loan spell at the London Stadium last season that Mario was set to be offered a Premier League lifeline by Spurs as they were lining up a loan move for him.
With their Premier League rivals reportedly pursuing their ex-playmaker, even if it was on a temporary basis, Hammers supporters on Twitter opted to laugh about the report.
One Hammers fan tweeted that while Mario was decent this was clearly a sign that Spurs were panicking while another stated that if they were honest current West Ham midfielder Robert Snodgrass had proven to able to hold on to the ball better.
Forever West Ham has rounded up the best tweets about Mario being on Spurs’ radar ahead of the transfer window closing on Thursday:
https://twitter.com/JoeHarri5/status/1027148827097276422
https://twitter.com/fog464/status/1027173649445527553
Lol. Spurs are panicking now. Not to take anything away from Mario though, he's decent.
— L27 (@__Paqueta__) August 8, 2018
He only wants to play for us ⚒
— Eltel1982⚒🙅♂️⚒ (@t_uk28) August 8, 2018
thats a sideways step at best
— Kevin Coughlan (@KevinCoughlan12) August 8, 2018
Lol
— Ollie Jonas (@oliverjonas2) August 8, 2018
OPINION
It’s bizarre that some fans opt to laugh at Spurs over them pursuing Mario as there are plenty of Hammers supporters who were no doubting hoping to see him permanently signed. While the cultured midfielder may have struggled upon first arriving at the London Stadium on a temporary basis by the end of his loan spell, he looked like a player worth keeping a hold of. The ex-Hammers midfielder looked to have settle in the Premier League only for the season to end and it’s understandable that he found it difficult to find his feet in a new league when he only joined halfway through the campaign. While some fans tweeted that they meant no disrespect to Mario, it will be hard seeing him excel at Spurs if he is recruited as the Hammers were the ones who had to put up with him needing a settling in period in England.
