According to a report from the Northern Echo, Bournemouth now want £30 million for alleged West Ham target Callum Wilson.
In other news…Report claims 27-year-old two-time league winner dreams of joining West Ham
And that will surely spell the end of the Hammers’ reported interest in the 28-year-old Cherries hitman.
West Ham boss David Moyes was linked with a move to bring the relegated striker to the London Stadium last week (Sky Sports).
ExWHUemployee claimed two weeks ago that the Hammers are prepared to sell Sebastien Haller, Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini and Albian Ajeti this summer.
So an established front-man will surely be near the top of Moyes’s wish-list this summer.
But the Northern Echo’s claim that Bournemouth now want £30 million for Wilson surely rules West Ham out of the running.
At the end of the day, however, that might not be a bad thing.
Spending £30 million on the 28-year-old would be a real kamikaze move.
Injury prone and unpopular in east London
Wilson has a horrendous injury record. Since the start of the 2015/16 campaign, the Bournemouth striker has missed 498 days of football through injury, with two of those spells on the sidelines being due to cruciate ligament ruptures (Transfermarkt).
And the striker is hardly popular amongst the West Ham fans.
He scores regularly against the Hammers, with seven goals in eight appearances to his name (Transfermarkt).
And one of those goals back in 2017 came when he handled the ball into the back of the net. But it was his post-match comments that angered the West Ham faithful more than anything else, as quoted via the Express:
“I tried to go in as a striker and follow the ball in and put a little touch on it to our delight but not to West Ham’s.”
So missing out on Wilson is no bad thing. There is far greater value to be had in the market. West Ham could and should be doing a lot better than Callum Wilson.