West Ham United could face a real battle for the signature of Unai Simon this summer with La Razon claiming that Mikel Arteta has personally requested that Arsenal chiefs bring the Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper to the Emirates.
In other news…Report: West Ham can now sign PL striker for £10m cheaper than price quoted in January
Hammers boss David Moyes may well be on the look-out for a new goalkeeper.
Lukasz Fabianski and Darren Randolph at 36 and 34 respectively are both ageing and are on the decline.
La Razon claimed just last week that West Ham are targeting a move to sign Athletic Bilbao stopper Unai Simon.
The Hammers may well have their work cut-out, however. The Gunners want the 23-year-old as well.
Blow for West Ham as Mikel Arteta asks Arsenal chiefs to sign Unai Simon
Despite the Hammers sitting pretty above the Gunners in the Premier League table, our spending power is still far inferior to the north London club.
And the Gunners may well still have more pull than us in the transfer market.
That’s just being realistic.
Unai Simon would be an exceptional signing for West Ham. He is exactly the kind of goalkeeper who we should be targeting as Fabianski’s long-term replacement.
The 23-year-old has been with Bilbao since 2016. He has let in just 91 goals in 85 games for the La Liga outfit, whilst keeping 25 clean sheets in the process (Transfermarkt).
Standing at 6ft 3in, the 23-year-old cuts an imposing figure. He is a very impressive shot stopper and has a good range of passing whilst being comfortable with the ball at his feet (Who Scored).
He was named as one of the best five under-25 goalkeepers in world football by Sportskeeda. Meanwhile, Marca have described him as one of six ‘untouchables’ for Spain’s Euro 2021 starting XI.
It seems as though Arsenal could be a real problem this summer, however, in the race to sign the Spanish goalkeeper.
Should we miss out on Simon to the Gunners, it would be a real bitter pill to swallow.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
