West Ham United enter race strongly for Yuri Alberto
Corinthians are scrambling to try to sign Yuri Alberto after West Ham entered the race “strongly”, according to UOL Esporte.
The 21-year-old Zenit St Petersburg forward is determined to leave Russia and the Brazilian club want to land him on loan.
They are prepared to offer two players on temporary deals the other way as they “rush” to try to complete a deal in the face of the late threat from the Hammers.
Bruno Andrade writes for the Brazilian outlet that the club “entered the contest strongly” on Friday (24 June).
David Moyes is believed to be targeting Chelsea youngster Armando Broja as his top striker target this summer, but may have found an alternative in the Brazilian under-23 international.
Alberto scored six in 15 appearances in Europe after a move from Internacional last summer, where he had already scored 30 times.
Threatening
The tables look to have turned on this one, with the Irons playing the role of potential usurper in a transfer, after clubs such as Newcastle keep arriving in their own chases for summer targets.
Broja looks like he remains the priority and the club are ready to spend £30million to get him, but while negotiations are ongoing with Chelsea it doesn’t look like they are going to be straight forward.
Alberto’s scoring record makes him an attractive possibility if they are able to move fast enough to gain control in the race for him.
They may need to offer a pretty significant fee since Corinthians are apparently “confident” they can land him by offering the two players in return.
If the money is workable there is surely no reason why Moyes couldn’t bring in both young strikers, as their ages would make them long-term signings, as well as finally able to provide some support for Michail Antonio.
The Jamaica international is 32 and while there are no suggestions he’s nearly finished yet, he is clearly far closer to the end of his career than Alberto and Broja.
There is definite need for more goalscoring help at West Ham and either of these young talents look like they could provide that.