West Ham director of football Mario Husillos is in talks with Celta Vigo over a move for Maxi Gomez with negotiations potentially heading into the final weeks of the transfer window, according to Football FanCast.
The football news outlet claim that the Hammers chief has already got negotiations underway for the 22-year-old hitman, with manager Manuel Pellegrini making a new centre forward his priority this summer, but that the Spanish side is holding buyers to his £44.7million exit clause.
However, it is stated that the Irons are confident they will be able to secure a cut-price deal for the 12-cap Uruguay international before the summer is over, with talks potentially heading into the final weeks, days or even hours of the window, Celta Vigo holding out for rival bidders.
Opinion
This looks to be a transfer saga which could come down to whichever side blinks first. West Ham look very keen to snap up the South American ace and with 13 goals in 35 appearances last season you can understand why. Their centre forward options look to be very limited, the potential exit of Javier Hernandez leaving Pellegrini with just Marko Arnautovic to call upon and so recruitment is a must. Celta Vigo’s approach appears to be pure brinksmanship, the Spanish side doing all they can to elongate the talks and try and tempt other clubs into driving his price up. West Ham seem pretty confident they can wait out the La Liga outfit and force their hand during the final weeks of the summer, but they cannot afford to put all their eggs into one basket. It would take one club to trigger his release clause and secure his signing to leave the Irons heading up the creek without a paddle – or a striker in this case.
