Why Celta Vigo not getting relegated will give West Ham a better chance of signing Maxi Gomez

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West Ham United are expected to renew their interest in Celta Vigo striker Mario Gomez this summer.

The Hammers reportedly wanted Gomez from Celta Vigo in January.

Manuel Pellegrini had been rocked by Marko Arnautovic’s revelation that he wanted to leave for China.

But West Ham refused to do business at anything less than £50 million.

Arnautovic’s replacement, if reports are to be believed, would have been Gomez.

West Ham to return for January target Gomez?

The Austrian remained in East London, though, pocketed an improved deal and Uruguay star Gomez remained in Spain.

Reports after deadline day said West Ham would return for the £45 million rated 22-year-old in the summer (Sky Sports).

And Hammers fans have been keeping a keen eye on struggling Celta Vigo’s results ever since.

That’s after reports claimed Gomez’s £45m release clause will be halved to £22.5m if Celta are relegated from La Liga.

The thinking is that would make a deal more likely for West Ham.

A bargain at half the price but does it make a deal less likely?

But in fact the opposite could be true.

At £45million Gomez would be a big risk, not just for West Ham, but any club.

That price tag instantly narrows the field of competition. And usually the player will go either where he stands to earn the biggest salary or where he has the best chance to play week in and week out.

At £45million West Ham may face competition from the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and Barcelona – three clubs who have also been linked.

In that case West Ham would hold the ace card in terms of offering guaranteed first team football.

But if Celta are relegated and his release clause drops to a relatively paltry £22.5million it would open a can of worms.

Celta relegation opens a can of worms for West Ham

Most Premier League teams could easily afford that for a quality striker.

And it would open the floodgates across Europe’s top leagues too.

The mindset of the buying club would change as it is less of a risk spending £22.5m. If the move did not work out, whoever wins the race for Gomez could realistically expect to make their money back from someone else given the forward is only 22.

Celta are currently in the bottom three, four points adrift of safety in La Liga with 10 games to save themselves.

West Ham should be willing them on between now and May to do just that.