Agent reacts as West Ham United agree £21.5m deal to sign Zenit defender Robert Renan
West Ham United have not agreed a £21.5m deal to sign Robert Renan from Zenit, with his agent describing reports as “lies”, according to Sport-Express.
Writing on their website (12 December), the Russian news outlet was responding to reports from Brazil that the Hammers had agreed the big-money deal for the Brazilian defender to join the club.
But when his agent Luis Fernando Costa was approached for comment he simply said it was “lies”, pouring cold water on the rumours of a fresh transfer deal in east London.
Odd
It immediately seemed like a bit of an odd deal to begin with, because Renan has hardly ripped up any trees in Russia and West Ham aren’t exactly stacked for cash right now.
£21.5m would be a large chunk of any budget we have for the January transfer window where we need to strengthen the team in several areas, and Renan reportedly wouldn’t be joining until the end of 2024 anyway.
So it’s not really a surprise that a deal has been denied, but if the agent is the one saying it isn’t true then it would be interesting to find out who has leaked the story to begin with.
West Ham are definitely look at central defenders but we need players who are far more first-team ready than Renan would be, despite his potential and talent.
The team needs players to improve the starting lineup or at least make the depth of the squad better, and there would be far better options out there for the reported price.
In other West Ham news, £21.5m deal agreed for brand new transfer.