Fabrizio Romano shares West Ham United transfer news with Joao Palhinha dream target
West Ham United have made Fulham star Joao Palhinha their “dream” transfer target this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Irons have been working hard this summer to replace Declan Rice at the London Stadium and the Portuguese midfielder is top of their list, but the cost of the deal is proving to be very expensive.
David Moyes has plenty of other targets on his radar, with one bid already rejected for Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria earlier in the window.
Writing in his Caught Offside column, Romano said: “West Ham’s dream target in midfield is Fulham’s Joao Palhinha, but that looks like being a very expensive deal. James Ward-Prowse is on their list, and Scott McTominay too. Edson Alvarez is also appreciated but is not considered a priority now, as far as I understand.
“Monaco want Zakaria, they have submitted their first bid for the player. It’s now up to West Ham if they want to bid again after initial proposal was rejected by Juventus 15 days ago. Zakaria is still assessing his options, and Monaco could be an interesting option for him as their new manager Adi Hutter knows him well.”
An expensive move
West Ham are now at the stage where they need a new midfielder in their ranks and can no longer be particularly picky in their selection as the season draws closer. This seems to be the case with Palhinha, where Fulham have set their price in a similar way to what the Hammers did for Rice.
Now there is an extra spanner in the works with the Portuguese picking up a shoulder injury in pre-season action for the Cottagers that could mean he would miss the start of the new campaign, only likely making the Irons more reluctant to pay a large transfer fee.
But Palhinha is as close to a like-for-like replacement for Rice as Moyes is likely to find and has now proven himself in the Premier League easily making him the best option for purchase this summer, yet it feels unlikely the Hammers will overpay for his services.
However, West Ham are going to have to pay over the odds for whoever they sign this window as everyone knows they have plenty of money to spend. If you’re paying £50m for Conor Gallagher, you may as well pay an extra £20m for Palhinha and get the perfect replacement.
Whoever is top of the Irons’ list, this transfer saga will rumble on until the end of the window.
In other West Ham news, Chelsea have offered an out of favour winger to the Irons as Gallagher talks slow