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Hot football transfer gossip: West Ham target 12 strikers but not Balotelli
Hernandez is on the list. Adebayor is on the list. In fact, if you’ve ever scored a goal on a football pitch, there’s a reasonable chance you’re on the list.
We’re not talking about the guest list to Gary Lineker’s birthday party. It’s actually the longlist, with the emphasis on long, from which West Ham will choose their next striker. According to today’s Evening Standard, it contains the names of a dozen centre-forwards, one of whom will move to Upton Park before the transfer window closes.
Aside from Hernandez and Adebayor, no other names are mentioned, which raises the obvious intriguing question of who else the Hammers are allegedly considering. Charlie Austin, perhaps? Yakubu? Maybe they’ve optimistically put Harry Kane somewhere near the top. Bottom of the list is probably Roberto Soldado or Tony Cottee. Of course it’s all just pointless speculation, because everyone knows they’ll just end up re-signing Carlton Cole.
One available striker that could figure on West Ham’s longlist, but who would be unlikely to join them according to the Daily Mirror, is Mario Balotelli. The tabloid says the Italian is tempted to stay an Anfield beyond the transfer window, even though he is nowhere near their first team, because his contract states he will pick up a huge loyalty bonus for staying past August.
The Reds will hope for better luck in their reported “talks” with Sunderland over a loan move for Fabio Borini, who turned down the Black Cats last year to stay at Anfield and heroically fight for his place against the odds, as if he were in some kind of Hollywood movie about an average Italian footballer who suddenly becomes brilliant and wins the Champions League with an overhead kick. Anyway, that didn’t happen, so maybe he’ll consider Wearside this time.
A more likely outgoing from Anfield, say the Daily Express, is midfielder Lucas, who is being linked with a move to Juventus after being left out of Liverpool’s squad last weekend.
Napoli have reportedly received a couple of recent visits from Premier League chairmen with sweat patches under their arms and speaking bad Italian, with Leicester swooping for the Serie A side’s £3m midfielder Gokhan Inler and Bournemouth chasing his £5.5m-rated team-mate Jonathan de Guzman.
Meanwhile, Everton will turn to former Man Utd flop Alexander Buttner to replace the injured Leighton Baines, Southampton have told Aston Villa that defender Jose Fonte is not for sale and Nottingham Forest are interested in free agent Shola Ameobi. He might wait to see if he’s on West Ham’s list first though.
