Celta Vigo striker Maxi Gomez is West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini and director of football Mario Hussilos’s number one transfer target this summer, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers news source claims that Husillos is now working on bringing the 22-year-old to East London as a matter of urgency.
Pellegrini sees the Uruguay international as the ideal replacement for frontman Andy Carroll, who looks set to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Husillos will be in talks with the player’s agents prior to making a bid for the Celta star, with Gomez likely to cost just £22million if or when his team suffer relegation from La Liga.
OPINION
This is a move that has long been in the making for the Hammers. Gomez is someone who the club looked at in January amid the Marko Arnautovic saga and it now appears that they will go back in for him in the summer. If it’s true that Gomez is the club’s number one target this summer then it’s hard to imagine West Ham not bringing him in. Money shouldn’t be a problem, with Gomez’s £22million release clause if relegation occurs more than affordable for the Hammers. With Carroll going out there will be a vacancy for a powerful, physically imposing striker at the London Stadium – particularly if Arnautovic moves on as well. Husillos obviously wants to get this one done just as much as Pellegrini does, so it would be a major surprise if Gomez isn’t wearing claret and blue next season. His form since January, when the speculation over his future began, must be a concern, though. He hasn’t netted since the middle of that month.
