West Ham have underlined their determination to sign André Gomes after making a £20m bid for the Barcelona midfielder.
While West Ham are unlikely to be as busy as they were when they spent £100m on nine players last summer, Manuel Pellegrini has made a new central midfielder a top priority and believes Gomes would have a major impact on his side’s development.
The east London club have already had an opening bid of £18m bid knocked back by Barcelona and have intensified their pursuit of the Portugal international by returning with an improved offer. However, it is thought they might have to go as high as £25m to convince the Spanish champions to sell.
West Ham are also likely to face competition from Everton for Gomes. The 25-year-old’s stock is high after an impressive year on loan at Goodison Park. Tottenham have also been linked with the former Benfica and Valencia player.
Pellegrini believes that more quality in midfield would help West Ham build on finishing 10th in his first season at the London Stadium. The Chilean knows his team struggled in that position at times last year, despite Declan Rice’s outstanding performances in defensive midfield earning the youngster his first England cap. Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sánchez both endured injury-hit campaigns, while Pedro Obiang is keen to return to Italy this summer.
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Pellegrini also wants to bring in a new striker after releasing Andy Carroll on a free transfer and selling Lucas Pérez to Alaves and has targeted Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and West Bromwich Albion’s Salomón Rondón.
West Ham are also tracking the Alavés centre-back Guillermo Maripán and have announced the signing of David Martin on a free transfer from Millwall. The goalkeeper will compete with Roberto, who joined West Ham from Espanyol on a free last week, to be Lukasz Fabianski’s No 2.
Edimilson Fernandes has been sold by West Ham to Mainz. The Switzerland midfielder has failed to establish himself as a regular starter since moving to the London Stadium in 2016 and spent last season on loan at Fiorentina.
