West Ham United’s plans to play ‘Italian brothers’ Lazio may have hit the buffers.
The Hammers were said to have opted for Lazio over Paris Saint Germain in their bid to land a high-profile pre-season friendly.
West Ham will take part in the Asia Trophy this summer alongside Manchester City, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers (whufc.com).
West Ham pre-season plans coming together
It will be the second time the East Londoners have competed in the tournament.
West Ham competed alongside Tottenham, Hull and Beijing Guoan a decade ago back in 2009, finishing third in the four-team event.
The Irons will travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in their penultimate pre-season game.
But the club also wants to end pre-season with a glamour home game at the London Stadium.
Hammers want London Stadium friendly
It will be the first home pre-season game since the match against Juventus which officially opened the London Stadium three years ago.
West Ham have penciled in August 3rd for the game and ran a poll via social media and sites like Claret & Hugh for fans to vote on who they would rather face between PSG, Lazio, Monaco, Lyon or Sevilla.
Lazio won the day (54% of the vote on C&H) if a report from Football London is anything to go by.
The report claimed the Hammers have been trying to make arrangements for the Rome side to come to East London.
Lazio plans hit the buffers?
But now Lazio have made other plans.
The Coppa Italia winners have arranged a friendly with Bournemouth on August 2nd instead, as announced on The Cherries’ website.
It has been known for clubs to send two separate squads to play games a day apart.
But that would be unlikely for what is the last friendly match before the new season begins.
Whether that now means West Ham will chase a stellar match against PSG remains to be seen.
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