Getting down to business early in the transfer window was always the hope expressed by Hammers’ fans -which normally evaporated as the club were left scratching around for deals close to the end of the window. Yesterday’s Claret and Hugh article detailed the club’s interest in Galatasaray’s fleet-footed striker amid the suggestion that a €30 million bid would be needed.
Further news out of Turkey today goes further and reports that The Hammers have now made a €25 million bid for Baris Alper Yilmaz on the back of his superb season which has yielded 14 goals and six assists in 48 games: A pretty healthy return amid a heavy workload. Sportwitness.co.uk quote Turkish news source sozcu.com.tr and suggest that West Ham’s bid has been refused and another ten million demanded by Galatasaray for their 25 year-old goal scoring frontman.
According to the report, Galatasaray bosses:
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“Held an urgent meeting to discuss the transfer and decided that if West Ham were to increase their offer to €35m, they departure will be approved. No sale will be considered below that point.”
Whether West Ham have learned their lesson from the Duran dealings – and quite how accurate the reporting is out of Turkey – we’ll see in the next few days as the transfer window opens for business next week. £7 million quid short. Six million being saved by not having to pay Danny Ings’ annual wages anymore. A do-able deal then.
Certainly signs for cautious optimism going into the close season. Ask me again come August 31st.