West Ham officials in Spain for transfer talks for prolific €50m striker

West Ham are hoping to conclude talks with Celta Vigo over a deal for striker Maxi Gomez, as Marko Arnautovic draws closer to leave the London Stadium.

According to trusted Spanish source Cadena Ser, officials from the Hammers have arrived in north-west Spain amid claims he is the man Manuel Pellegrini sees as his No 1 target to replace Austrian star Arnautovic.

The Hammers boss opted to select Arnautovic for the 1-0 win over Arsenal, despite the forward appearing to be keen on a January move to China.

The 29-year-old’s brother and agent claimed last week that Arnautovic wants to leave for the Chinese Super League and implored the club not to stand in his way.

Arnautovic was included in West Ham’s side and was given a positive response by the home fans, although he waved to all corners of the stadium as he was substituted for Andy Carroll in the second half.

“We will see what happens in the next few days and I hope he will take the best decision,” Pellegrini said when asked if the former Stoke man had been waving goodbye.

“I have been in this position a lot of time in my 30 years, but I’m calm with nothing 100 per cent sure (regarding Arnautovic’s future).”

And it seems West Ham will sanction the former Stoke star’s departure for a fee of around €35million (£31m) – and are already making moves to sign his replacement in Gomez for a similar fee.

The Uruguayan striker is said to have a release clause of €50m (£44.3m) at Balaidos and netted in Friday night’s 4-2 loss at Rayo Vallecano.

The player has also been linked with a move to Barcelona as a potential long-term replacement for Luis Suarez, while Atletico Madrid are also reported to have watched him on a number of occasions as they consider replacing Diego Costa.

But it seems it is West Ham who have won the race to sign him and will hope to convince the player to move to the Premier League after meeting his release clause.

Gomez has hit 26 La Liga goals in 50 starts since joining from Defensor Sporting in a €4m deal in 2017.