Napoli owner sees now-or-never window to beat West Ham United to Armando Broja deal
Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis recognises that now but he is final chance to land West Ham target Armando Broja, Gazetta dello Sport reports.
The Irons are apparently still locked in talks with Chelsea over a move, according to ExWHUemployee, despite the Mail reporting on Sunday morning (17 July) a loan deal was imminent.
The Serie A side had earmarked the Stamford Bridge forward as a possible replacement should they lose Nigerian star Victor Osimhen this window, but now realise they have to move now if they ever want him at all.
The Italian owner is close with the Albanian international’s national team coach Edy Reja who is a previous manager at the Diego Armanda Maradona Stadium, and has followed the youngster for some time as a result.
He subsequently “fell in love” with the 20-year-old after his successful loan spell at Southampton in the 2021/22 season, where he scored six times in the Premier League.
With the Hammers having already offered £30million with £25million up front [Sky Sports] De Laurentiis feels that if he waits even a year longer he will be entirely priced out of the equation and is therefore weighing up the decision to “sink the blow immediately” with his best offer.
Wild card
Chelsea prefer to hold on to Broja and according to Thomas Tuchel have “no interest in selling him” [via Football London] while West Ham appear to be at the head of the queue of suitors.
And it seems likely that they could still outbid whatever De Laurentiis came up with as a final offer, but his realisation that it’s his last chance could inspire something unexpected.
The link with the player’s national team coach may be relevant, but at the same time Frank Lampard is Everton boss and the Hammers look to be beating them in the race despite him being the Chelsea boss who gave Broja his top flight debut.
If the player is to move this summer all signs point to the London Stadium as the most likely destination, but the pursuit has proven to be anything but straight forward.
He could easily still remain at Stamford Bridge, which would be highly frustrating for the teams that have been chasing him for weeks this summer.
But he is clearly ambitious and isn’t going to settle for occasional substitute appearances so the loan option feels like a fair compromise.
If the Napoli owner decides he has to capitalise on his now-or-never window of opportunity there is an outside chance they are the preferred option, since if he was sold permanently he wouldn’t play against his current side.
On loan he wouldn’t be allowed to anyway so the Irons should be hopeful they can close a temporary agreement as things stand, just as they currently look to be the closest to Gianluca Scamacca as well.