OPINION
It’s been coming for some time now, but it was finally confirmed on Sunday that West Ham have missed on Uruguayan hitman Maxi Gomez.
The 22-year-old was unveiled as a Valencia player via the club’s official Twitter account, and after a pursuit that has looked increasingly futile, the Hammers will now have to focus their attention elsewhere.
There was a reason that the Irons wanted Gomez.
He is young and hungry, with the potential to be world class, and his stats from last season show just that.
2.3 shots per game in La Liga last season, as well as 0.9 key passes, and a dispossession rate of just 1.1 times per match [Whoscored] – Gomez is an old school centre forward with a really decent creative streak too.
And if there were any doubts over just how impressive his potential is, you need only look at the massive release clause that has been written into his contract by Valencia.
The Spanish side value their new asset at £125.7 million, as reported by Football.London, and if that isn’t an indication of how good he is then nothing is.
No doubt David Sullivan and David Gold will be looking at that contract and kicking themselves for missing out on a player of that magnitude.
You would expect them to make moves in the transfer market and ease some of the pain from that blow, but without question, if you’ve got the chance to sign a player valued in excess of £100 million and you miss out, you’re going to be very disappointed, plain and simple.
