West Ham United joined by Chelsea and Barcelona in race for Brazilian wonderkid Vitor Roque
West Ham have been joined by Chelsea, PSG and Barcelona in the race to sign Athletico Paranaense forward Vitor Roque, Mundo Deportivo reports.
The 17-year-old has already been subject of a £12.3million permanent offer from the London Stadium [UOL, 24 January], although it did not meet the asking price of the Brazilian club.
But they are now facing formidable competition in the form of the big-spending Blues and La Liga giants Barca, as well as the French heavyweights in Paris.
The Catalan club reportedly view the wonderkid as the heir to Robert Lewandowski’s mantle, and the player apparently favours a move to the Camp Nou.
However, Barcelona are only getting involved now because they know the competition, including the Hammers, have already started pushing to sign the youngster.
The well-documented financial fair play issues for the Catalans are expected to make things difficult for them though, giving hope to the other clubs in the race.
Hotting up
Clearly, the presence of one of the richest sides in the world, the one which is spending the most money in the world, and the one that has the most ‘economic levers’ to pull means it is not a highly encouraging set of competition for West Ham in this race.
But it isn’t always as simple as the biggest and the richest clubs get what they want – after all Gianluca Scamacca rejected PSG once he had decided on a move to West Ham in the summer – and if the Irons have been in there early making contact it might be something that still works.
If Barcelona no longer have enough levers to pull and have to drop out of the race, there is always the possibility that Chelsea have either spent up to their own FFP limit or simply don’t have enough space in the building for any more highly-rated under 21s, plus project and playing time can be a factor.
With Michail Antonio quite likely moving on in the summer, and both Danny Ings and Scamacca both yet to settle in fully amid injury issues in their short time at the club, there is sure to be movement in attack following this season.
The teenager is being groomed as Brazil’s number nine of the future so he is no doubt likely to end up at one of Europe’s super clubs sooner or later.
But perhaps West Ham can make themselves an important development step along the way if they remain in the race for this hot prospect youngster into the summer window.