West Ham United battle Chelsea and Tottenham for £30million Roger Ibanez transfer after Friday meeting in London
West Ham are battling Chelsea and Tottenham to sign Roma defender Roger Ibanez after Tiago Pinto jetted into London last Friday (16 June) to negotiate a sale, according to Roma Giallo Rosa.
The defender currently has an asking price of up to €35million [£30million] and the Serie A side’s sporting director was in England at the end of last week to discuss a sale with the three Premier League sides from the capital.
Amid discussions over Gianluca Scamacca’s move the other way, talks were reportedly held over a possible signing of the Brazilian centre-back.
According to Roma Giallo Rosa there is currently no concrete bid on the table from any of the three clubs, with Spurs noted as “very interested” but only for around two thirds of the current price tag.
Pinto is tipped to have to reduce his demands amid more talks at the beginning of the new week but is “hoping” for West Ham and Chelsea to increase their standing in the race, as Ibanez “will leave” this summer.
London calling
Ibanez was a regular under Jose Mourinho last season, making 48 total appearances as Roma finished sixth Serie A and made it to the Europa League final.
However a deal has been struck for them to sign coveted free agent defender Evan N’Dicka from Eintracht Frankfurt [Fabrizio Romano, 13 June] and they are pushing to bring back Leeds’ Diego Llorente on a cut-price deal after half a season on loan [Fabrizio Romano, 17 June].
So amid financial pressures Ibanez is clearly in line to be sacrificed, and that could be to David Moyes’ and West Ham’s gain if they want to make another splash at centre-back after signing Nayef Aguerd last summer.
There may be scope to combine an incoming deal for the 24-year-old defender and an outgoing one for his age-mate striker Scamacca in a way that suits both parties.
But the presence of both Chelsea and Spurs in the equation is bound to not make things straight forward if such negotiations were to be attempted.
Moyes lost Craig Dawson in the January window and while Angelo Ogbonna has been offered a contract to continue his stay at the London Stadium [Evening Standard, 16 June] he is already 35.