West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini has batted away links of a raid for Roma striker Eden Dzeko, but he did reveal that Dzeko is a player that he knows well.
The 32-year-old has been linked to the Hammers recently, and Italian outlet Calcio Mercato have reported that West Ham are ready to launch a £22 million bid in order to lure him to the London Stadium for another stint in the Premier League.
The Chilean manager was questioned about a raid for the forward in a pre-match press conference ahead of the Tottenham fixture at the weekend, but Pellegrini remained coy about the whole situation, remarking on how he knows “him well”.
“You can talk about five, six or seven players that are linked with us. We must not talk about one player, I know him well but we are not thinking about that at the moment,” he said, as quoted by Football London (12.34pm, 18/10).
OPINION
Pellegrini was never going to reveal who the club’s transfer targets are, and it would not be a surprise if the Bosnia international officially emerged as one of them. During Pellegrini’s time at Manchester City, Dzeko was playing under him – so it is no wonder that he knows him well. If Dzeko is indeed a target for West Ham, Pellegrini has no doubt identified him because he thinks that he would be a good fit for the club. Yes, Dzeko is 32, but the manager knows him well enough to understand that he is still in good form. If he is anything like he was at City, then West Ham will be in for a real treat if they do swoop for him in the January transfer window. Even though he played second fiddle to Sergio Aguero most of the time. Dzeko still managed to prove how much of a potent striker he really is.
