West Ham prepared to sell £40k p/w defender for ‘the right price’ – report
West Ham could be about to ship out Fabian Balbuena on deadline day with his contract set to expire at the end of the current campaign.
That is according to the Telegraph who say the Paraguayan can leave the club on a permanent deal before Monday’s midnight deadline.
There has been mass speculation regarding an Irons centre back in recent weeks but it has all been about the future of Issa Diop with Liverpool’s defensive crisis seeing them consider a move for the 24-year-old.
Diop has been out-of-favour at the London Stadium this season after the early-season partnership between Angelo Ogbonna and Balbuena that blossomed but it appears the latter may be on his way out.
According to the Telegraph Balbuena is “available for a permanent deal at the right price” with West Ham preferring to keep Diop at the club instead.
With his £40,000 per week contract [spotrac] expiring at the end of the season it could be the last opportunity to cash in on the 29-year-old unless he is offered a new deal.
Where did it all go wrong?
This is a quite remarkable turnaround on a player that was a mainstay of the West Ham starting XI during the first few months of the season.
Balbuena did not start in the first two Premier League games of the season but began the 4-0 thrashing of Wolves in the third round of fixtures and did not look back after that.
He started their subsequent 10 games before a slight injury issue saw him sit out the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on December 16 but he returned for the following two games where the Hammers shipped five combined against Chelsea and West Ham.
This prompted David Moyes to give Craig Dawson his West Ham debut against Southampton and it has proved to be an inspired decision with the side registering four clean sheets in his seven appearances since while he has also weighed in with three goals.
Meanwhile, Balbuena’s only outing since the Brighton game on December 27 was against Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup and his stock at the club looks to have considerably decreased.
Who would have thought that Dawson would prove to be the undoing of Balbuena at West Ham.
In other West Ham news, our view on what went wrong for Aaron Creswell against Liverpool.