Manuel Pellegrini wants to be reunited with Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi at West Ham, according to TNT Sports LA.
The football outlet claim that the West Ham boss wants to bring experience to the London Stadium and has thought about signing the centre-back who is looking for a way out of Manchester City.
TNT Sports LA report that Manchester City want £22.9million (25million euros) for Otamendi and his price tag would be something the Hammers find difficult to meet.
The Daily Mail previously reported that the 31-year-old enforcer was on West Ham’s radar, but that they faced competition from Wolves and Atletico Madrid for his services.
OPINION
If Pellegrini wants to add an experienced defender to his squad than a swoop for Otamendi makes complete sense. However when you consider his price tag, especially given his age, and that he will likely demand big wages seeing as he currently earns £120,000-a-week at Man City, according to Spotrac, it’s hard to see Pellegrini getting his man. This is the case even though the centre-back would no doubt love a move to West Ham, especially given that he likely has a huge amount of respect for the club’s current manager as it was Pellegrini that saw him given his first chance in English football as he was manager of Man City when they signed him (Source: BBC). However, with not much time left on the window, it’s hard to see how West Ham’s stance on Otamendi’s price tag is going to change, as it wouldn’t be a smart idea to sell players to fund his purchase. Otamendi appeared 18 times in the Premier League for Man City last season, averaging an impressive pass completion rate of 92.7% and winning 2.2 aerial duels per game, (Source: WhoScored) so if the Hammers did sign him, he’d be useful first-team cover but a deal doesn’t sound likely.
