West Ham United to make new offer for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha – talkSPORT
West Ham United are set to make a second bid for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha imminently, according to talkSPORT.
Writing on his personal Twitter account (20 July), journalist Alex Crook is reporting that the Hammers are preparing to make a new offer for the Portugal international as they up their plans to replace Declan Rice.
West Ham had a £40m bid for the 28-year-old rejected earlier in the window, but are now set to return with a new and improved bid to tempt the Cottagers to part with a player they signed for £20m just last summer.
“West Ham are preparing a second bid for Joao Palhinha, talkSPORT understands,” they wrote on their official website.
“Understand a second West Ham United bid for Joao Palhinha is imminent,” Crook wrote.
Massive
Palhinha seems to have emerged as the prime target to replace Rice after the fantastic season he had in the Premier League with Fulham last time out.
Rice left in a £105m deal and the Hammers have money to spend on a replacement, but don’t want to overpay and are conscious of that.
But Palhinha has clearly impressed a lot and after having a £40m bid rejected, there was a feeling that the clubs could compromise on a deal worth around £60m although it’s unclear if the Hammers are willing to go that high.
However with a fresh bid set to go in, it’s clear that David Moyes and co are willing to pay big money to land Palhinha and they want to get a deal done quickly with the new season set to begin in just a few weeks.
There are other midfield targets at the London Stadium, but it’s now obvious that Palhinha is the number one target and West Ham are moving to get their man.
In other West Ham news, talks ongoing for £5m deal with PL club for first-team ace.