Wesley Gassova plans route to Premier League after West Ham United bid with exit now expected
Wesley Gassova wants to move to Ligue 1 before making the step up to the Premier League where he has offers from West Ham and Chelsea, Foot Mercato reports.
According to the French outlet via their website on 3 July the Brazilian wonderkid and his entourage are leaning towards interest from Nice and other French sides, as he is now said to be “very interested” to a switch from Corinthians to the European country before looking to cross the English Channel later.
The 19-year-old, referred to as a “phenomenon” by Foot Mercato journalist Sebastian Denis, is compared to Kylian Mbappe in Brazil but is now expected to leave his home country, and although he also has interest from Napoli and Porto in Italy and Portugal respectively it is France he wants first.
Although Corinthians were previously said to want €30million [£25.4m] to sell the young attacker [GOAL, 2 July], Denis reported via Twitter that he could now move for €20m [£16.9m], which is only just above the €18m [£15.2m] value of the Hammers’ previous bid [ESPN, 18 April].
West Ham and Chelsea will have to wait for wonderkid compared to Kylian Mbappe
If Wesley ends up moving to Europe for little more than the Irons have already put on the table, and doesn’t go to one of the traditional giants, it could be an excruciating miss for Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui.
Adding the exciting Brazilian teenager to the one the German technical director has already secured from Palmeiras this in Luis Guilherme would no doubt generate visions of a dynamic new era under the new manager after David Moyes’ dour football divided the fanbase.
However, there is no guarantee that young talents who have shone in Brazil will immediately adapt to the Premier League, hence why West Ham will have to avoid putting too much pressure on Guilherme when the new season starts.
It appears Wesley and his advisors are well aware of that, and there is logic to stepping up gradually between the leagues, frustrating as it may be for the Hammers.
While some youngsters have such ability that they will probably be a success anywhere, the carefully planned pathways to the top of superstars Erling Haaland – Molde to Manchester City in three years via Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund – and Jude Bellingham – Birmingham to Real Madrid in the same timespan, again via Dortmund – shows the merits of such an approach.
With Mbappe having just departed Paris Saint-Germain for the Santiago Bernabeu himself there is room for a new star in Ligue 1 and it looks like Wesley has an eye on it being him.
In other West Ham news, the Irons now want to sign multiple Manchester United players this summer.
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