West Ham United are hoping to save £10million on key summer transfer target Aleksandar Mitrovic, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers news source claims that Manuel Pellegrini’s side remain interested in the Fulham hitman, and that he would normally be expected to cost £30million.
However, the club are waiting to see whether his price tag decreases if he has a relegation clause in the contract he signed when joining from Newcastle United last summer.
Should such a clause exists, it’s expected that the burly Serbian would then cost a ‘mere’ £20million.
OPINION
This is an interesting update on West Ham’s pursuit of Mitrovic. The club are obviously after him and see him as a transfer target ahead of the summer, and so they’ll be hoping to save anything they can on him. It would be a surprise if someone like Mitrovic, signing for a promoted side like Fulham for big money, didn’t have a relegation clause included in his contract. That would be a major surprise, and so you’d expected the Serbian’s price tag to be closer to £20million than £30million. That would still represent a profit for the Cottagers and would allow them to go and bring players in this summer. For the Hammers, that’s not a huge amount of money these days. The thing is, though, are West Ham pursuing Mitrovic or Maxi Gomez? Football London reported last month that the latter was one of two players that director of football Mario Husillos has identified as a priority signing this summer. But he and Mitrovic are the same type of strikers and would cost a similar amount. So which one are they after?
