West Ham United face new difficulty for transfer of Villarreal ace Alexander Sorloth
Villarreal have even more determination to ensure the £32million release clause for West Ham-linked Alexander Sorloth is met as they no longer need to sell players, according to Marca.
The Spanish outlet reported in their print edition (30 July, page 16) that with the sales of Filip Jorgensen and Ben Brereton-Diaz to Chelsea and Southampton respectively, Villarreal have raised £27.8m.
Villarreal have told interested clubs including the Hammers, Roma and Atletico Madrid that the Norwegian will not be sold for less than his £32m release clause [AS, 4 July], and are now much more able to stand firm on that valuation, meaning interested clubs have a new difficulty to contend with.
Atletico will reportedly still try to barter the Yellow Submarine down to below the amount of Sorloth’s release clause, but they’ll likely get the same answer the Irons got – “£32m or nothing”.
West Ham must act quickly to secure Alexander Sorloth transfer
Of all the seemingly dozens of strikers the Irons have been linked with so far in this transfer window, few have scored anywhere near as many goals at Sorloth has in the past few seasons.
Playing in Turkey, Germany and Spain since 2020, the Norwegian has managed two 20-plus goal campaigns in this time, and his 26 in 41 matches for Villarreal last season suggest he’s the real deal.
While his brief time at Crystal Palace yielded just one goal in 20, the 28-year-old’s form since suggests he’s a much wiser investment than the likes of Jhon Duran, who the Irons could pay up to £40m for [Evening Standard, 26 July].
Sorloth may be eight years older than Aston Villa’s Duran, but with new Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui wanting to hit the ground running in East London, he’ll need goals right from the off.
Other than Fenerbahce-bound Youssef En-Nesyri, no one linked with a move to the London Stadium this summer has a better guarantee of goals than Sorloth, and the Irons must act fast to make this £32m transfer happen.
In other West Ham news, a surprise club could be about to enter the race for a Premier League striker who the Irons want to sign.
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