Striker signing options are dwindling as longstanding West Ham target Andrea Belotti joins French club on a free.
West Ham boss David Moyes has been trying, without success, to find the right forward for the last three transfer windows.
Moyes admitted last summer he tried to sign seven different strikers.
Quite why West Ham struggle to get deals done for forwards is baffling.
But it looks like a case of another one bites the dust for the Hammers today.
West Ham have been linked with a host of strikers during Moyes’ tenure over the last two and a half years.
And one name that has regularly been mentioned is Italian Andrea Belotti.
A recent report from TuttoSport claimed the 28-year-old Italy international striker is firmly on West Ham’s radar this summer.
As reported by Hammers News this weekend, Torino confirmed Belotti is now officially a free agent having refused to sign a new deal with the club.
With 170 goals for club and country and available for nothing, Belotti represented a good value signing for Moyes in his desperate search for a new striker.
But the striker options are dwindling as longstanding West Ham target Belotti has reportedly joined French club Monaco on a free.
Striker options dwindling as longstanding West Ham target Andrea Belotti joins French club on a free
Repubblica, RMC Sport and Get French Football News are all reporting overnight that Monaco are closing in on the signing of alleged West Ham target Belotti.
“A three-year contract worth €3.5m (£3m) is said to be on the table for the 28-year-old, who has scored 12 goals in 44 appearances for his country,” GFFN report.
“Belotti is now expected to accept the offer from the Principality side, and will become their second signing of the summer after Takumi Minamino’s arrival from Liverpool in a deal worth an initial €15m (£13m) to be paid in five instalments.”
So another one bites the dust for Moyes as the Scot’s eyes appear to remain firmly fixed on prime striker target Armando Broja and back-up option Youssef En-Nesyri.
In truth Belotti does not really fit West Ham’s Red Bull model recruitment policy.
But then neither does 29-year-old Jesse Lingard, who Moyes continues to chase relentlessly.
If it was value for money and a team player Moyes was after he will be hard pressed to find better than Belotti on a free.
Especially as West Ham reportedly saw a £55m bid rejected for the same player just a few years ago.
A brilliant hold-up player who grafts for the team, he could have helped share the workload with Michail Antonio.
But West Ham will just have to continue to hope Thomas Tuchel brings in new forwards at Chelsea and agrees to eventually sell Broja to the Hammers.
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