Nikola Vlasic jets out to complete West Ham United exit, Fabrizio Romano claims ‘done deal’
Nikola Vlasic is on the verge of leaving West Ham to join Torino on a loan-to-buy basis, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Writing via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday night (9 August), the Guardian journalist reported that it’s now a “done deal” as Vlasic, 24, has jetted out of the UK and arrived in Torino to undergo his medical with the Serie A side.
It is understood that the Croatia international will have his medical checks on Wednesday morning (10 August).
Romano adds that Torino are paying £2.1million to cover Vlasic’s salary and once his loan is over, they’ll have the option to sign the former Everton and CSKA Moscow forward for around £12.6million.
Oh no…
Torino have the option to sign Vlasic permanently – it’s not mandatory.
That means that if Vlasic struggles in Italy this season then there’s a good chance we’ll lose out on even more money on him next year once he’s back.
The Hammers paid an initial £26.8million fee to sign Vlasic from CSKA last year [BBC Sport].
Since then, he’s struggled to play regularly and barely made an impact in David Moyes’ squad.
And let’s face it, it’s no surprise because he’s previously flopped in the Premier League at Everton so we have no idea why Moyes thought it would be any different this time around but in claret and blue.
Most of Moyes’ signings have been superb but Vlasic is easily one of the worst, if not the worst, additions made by the Scotsman in his second spell as the Irons’ manager.
Let’s hope Vlasic does well in Turin so that Torino do end up paying that £12.6million option-to-buy clause for the Croatian attacker.
If not, we could lose even more money and time will also have to be spent trying to find a buyer in a year’s time.