Paratici to heap misery on West Ham with Tottenham ready to gazump transfer
Tottenham are prepared to bid higher than West Ham for a Serie A centre-half, and Fabio Paratici’s relationship with the player’s club is expected to prove pivotal, per a report.
The Hammers are known to be on the hunt for reinforcements in several areas this summer. With a tricky Europa League campaign to juggle, David Moyes desperately requires new faces to bolster his ranks.
One player who had been tipped to shore up their options at centre-back was Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic.
After the the trail leading them to Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma went cold, Milenkovic came into focus.
Indeed, a report from Sport Witness suggested West Ham and Fiorentina could meet in the middle after the Telegraph highlighted an obvious problem surrounding both club’s respective valuations of the Serbian.
However, Sky Sports later reported a suitable agreement had not been reached, putting his move to West Ham in serious doubt.
Now, the Sun (citing Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla), back up the claims West Ham will not be signing Milenkovic. Instead, they report the 23-year-old could be bound for London rivals Tottenham.
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They state Tottenham are ‘willing’ to bid higher than the £12.7m West Ham reportedly offered. Spurs are hopeful £15m will do the trick, and it’s claimed Paratici could be key in negotiations.
The Tottenham chief reportedly has a ‘good relationship’ with Fiorentina. He facilitated the deal that brought Federico Chiesa to Juventus when working for the Turin club.
Paratici has already utilised his contacts in Italy to good effect this summer. He helped sign Cristian Romero from Atalanta on an initial one-year loan with a £42.7m option to buy.
West Ham join Tottenham in midfielder hunt
Meanwhile, West Ham will face competition from Tottenham and Inter Milan to sign one of their top midfield targets this summer, according to reports.
West Ham remain in desperate need of new faces and are reportedly eyeing Cagliari star Nahitan Nandez. That’s according to Italian source La Repubblica (via Sport Witness), who state that Nandez is ‘certain to move on’ this month.
His transfer will be a permanent sale or loan with the option to buy next year. The also report provides an update on Inter’s pursuit of the 25-year-old. Nandez is extremely keen to join the Serie A champions, although negotiations between the two clubs have stalled.
Another Italian outlet, Sport Mediaset, claim that the Uruguay international has ‘closed the door’ on Inter. That’s reportedly a direct result of the transfer impasse.
He is supposedly looking to join a different club this month, which puts West Ham and Tottenham in the driving seat.
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