West Ham United transfer target Guillermo Maripan won’t play for current club Alaves again, according to Marca.
The Spanish outlet claims that the 25-year-old likely won’t feature against Valencia or Girona, having suffered an ankle injury last month.
It’s thought that Alaves don’t want to risk injuring the player ahead of a likely summer transfer, with West Ham named as one of the clubs in for him.
Football London reported in April that Maripan is one of two primary transfer targets for the Hammer’s director of football Mario Husillos this summer.
OPINION
This is intriguing news from a West Ham perspective. Maripan has long been linked with the club and is clearly someone who Husillos has high hopes of bringing in, and it seems that Alaves have come to the conclusion that his departure is inevitable this summer. They obviously don’t want him to play because they don’t want to risk his injury getting worse and scuppering a potential windfall in a few months time. That’s good news for Hammers fans, because all the signs are now pointing to Maripan leaving the Spanish outfit this summer. If he does end up at the London Stadium then it’s now likely that he will be fully fit and raring to go throughout pre season. Obviously it’s not a done deal just yet, but this is yet one more thing that points towards Maripan wearing claret and blue next campaign. That is extremely exciting for fans of the club, because he has enjoyed a spectacular season with Abelardo Fernández’s side this term.
