West Ham United eye £30million Benfica sensation Goncalo Ramos
West Ham are in the hunt for Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos amid intense interest from the Premier League, according to a report from 90min.
The Portuguese forward has already scored three times to start the new season, as he fills the void left by Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez, but could yet follow him to England.
Newcastle and Nottingham Forest have already held talks over a possible move, while the Hammers are joined by Everton, Leeds, Wolves, and Crystal Palace as clubs monitoring the situation.
Paris Saint-Germain, who failed in a late bid to hijack the Irons’ move to sign Gianluca Scamacca are also interested in the 21-year-old who would reportedly cost around £30million.
Benfica coach Roger Schmidt is supposedly yet to be convinced that the youngster can shoulder the load left by Nunez, who himself came close to a West Ham move in January, and the Irons have “asked to be kept aware of his availability”.
Unlikely
After spending up to £35million on Scamacca from Sassuolo it seems unlikely that David Moyes would ask to do close to the same again on a young forward like Ramos when he has other areas of need.
He did chase Armando Broja for some time who was set to cost somewhere in that region, and there was talk of him bringing in two forwards during this window at the time, so it can’t be entirely ruled out.
He is going to need to move fast if he wants to jump into the race for the youngster from Portugal though if Newcastle, who have rivalled the Irons for nearly everyone this summer, have already made the first move.
Much as fans may love to see an exciting new forward join the ranks, Moyes needs to solve his defensive crisis first and potentially find a replacement for Amadou Onana, after months of work chasing the Belgian fell apart.
With moves apparently being made on the centre-back front the club might have their fingers in a few pies, and although Ramos has only scored 17 senior goals so far he is clearly doing something right to have so many teams after him.
Michail Antonio doesn’t deserve to be forgotten about the instant a new striker arrives at long last, but he won’t be around forever so there would be worse ideas than planning for the future at the position if there is money available.