West Ham United put Juventus in race against time on Filip Kostic ahead of Wednesday summit
West Ham have put Juventus under pressure to match their offer for Filip Kostic as the clubs battle for his signature, CalcioMercato reports.
The Hammers were advancing on a move for the Eintracht Frankfurt wide man, and have an offer of €15million agreed with the Europa League winners.
They appeared to have things tied up on the player’s side also, with a strong salary offer, until the Italian giants entered the picture, as Kostic prefers the Old Lady.
But the Serie A side are reportedly in a “race against time” according to CalcioMercato, because the Irons have placed “something very similar to an ultimatum” in play.
Juve have to come up with an offer for the Serbian to compete with what West Ham already have on the table and a summit scheduled for Wednesday (3 August) should provide clarity.
The Italians are apparently preparing an offer as they may arrive at the meeting faced with a simple choice on the 29-year-old – “either you take it or you leave it”.
Showdown
The Hammers have put in the leg work on this deal and now they just have to see if Juventus can match them before they walk away.
The price for Kostic is not exactly steep, so if they really want him they surely can come up with an offer that will win the race for them.
But money tends to be tighter in Serie A than the Premier League, although often not in Turin, so there is a possibility that they are unwilling to pay for the 29-year-old when he has only a year left on his current contract and they have other moves to make.
David Moyes will be feeling like he has to get three transfers agreed in order to land one player currently, with the club apparently well down the road on a number of deals but still waiting on a result.
They looked like they had the likes of Jesse Lingard and Armando Broja in the bag at different points during this window as well, with neither ending in success.
If Kostic prefers Juventus then they have the inside track to sign him, so the Irons are doing the right thing by pressing the issue and then moving on if they don’t get an answer soon.