According to a report from Tuttomercatoweb, alleged West Ham target Dusan Vlahovic is demanding a new £40k-a-week contract in order to stay with Fiorentina.
Read also: 23-year-old admits he would jump at the chance to join West Ham
And that should be seen as a big boost for the Hammers.
West Ham boss David Moyes will be desperate to bring a couple of top class strikers to the London Stadium this summer.
Calcio Mercato claimed earlier this month that the towering 21-year-old Fiorentina striker could be an option for the Hammers.
And what an incredibly exciting addition he would be for West Ham.
The Serbia international has scored 12 goals in 27 Serie A games for Fiorentina this season (Transfermarkt).
Back in 2016, Vlahovic was scouted by Juventus with the Italian club’s scouts branding him as ‘the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ (The Sun).
Standing at 6ft 2in tall, the Fiorentina ace certainly has similar physical attributes to Zlatan. The 21-year-old has demonstrated how much quality he has throughout the entire campaign thus far.
West Ham have their work cut-out if they are to sign Dusan Vlahovic
The Hammers may well have a big problem if they want to bring him to East London this summer.
Fiorentina are demanding £35 million for his services (Tuttomercatoweb). The good news is that the 21-year-old has reached an impasse with La Viola regarding talks over a new contract.
The young striker is said to be demanding around £40k-a-week to stay in Florence. And as things stand, those demands have not yet been met by the Serie A outfit.
Let’s say he did end up costing £35 million. For arguments sake, let’s say we signed him on a four-year deal at £40k-a-week. That would work out at £8.32 million over the course of four years.
If West Ham paid someone £100k-a-week for the same period of time, the total paid in wages would amount to £20.8 million.
So the wages saved by signing someone like Vlahovic may well make it worth paying such a hefty fee to acquire his services.
It will all depend on two things. One, whether David Moyes is ready to risk such a large outlay on someone who is totally unproven in the Premier League. And two, whether David Sullivan and David Gold will be prepared to pay that kind of money for one player in the first place.
Only time will tell. One thing’s for sure though. Vlahovic has all of the basic ingredients needed to go right to the very top.
It really would be great if we made this one happen.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
