da bet7： West Ham United have landed a potential boost in their aspirations of signing Andre Silva following reports Eintracht Frankfurt are willing to sell the striker in the summer.
What’s the word?
da bet7k： According to Bild, La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid plus Wolverhampton Wanderers are eyeing a move to snap up Silva at the end of the season following his sublime efforts in Germany this term.
Silva took his tally to 18 goals in 21 games across all competitions on Sunday when he fired home in Die Adler’s 3-1 win over TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, following back-to-back braces in Bundesliga victories over Arminia Bielefeld and Hertha BSC.
Only Bayern Munich’s UEFA Men’s Player of the Year winner Robert Lewandowski (24) has scored more often in the German top-flight this term than Silva (17), while the duo each account for 41% of their respective side’s goals for the division’s third-highest rate.
Silva’s impressive efforts have caught the attention of Atletico, who are now said to be planning on bidding for the 25-year-old in the summer, but face offering in excess of €30m (£26.5m) to open negotiations with Eintracht for the forward once lauded by Cristiano Ronaldo for his “phenomenal” record.
The chances of the 37-cap Portugal international leaving Frankfurt at the end of the season are expected to increase should Adi Hutter fail to secure the Deutsche Bank Park natives European football, though Die Adler are currently fifth in the Bundesliga table and a point outside the Champions League places.
West Ham were linked with Silva during the recent mid-season market with David Moyes said to have considered the former AC Milan flop as an option to replace Sebastien Haller.
Should Silva be an option for the summer?
With Moyes eventually opting against signing a striker to replace Haller in the winter transfer window, West Ham will have to be in the market for a new centre-forward to help support Michail Antonio in the summer.
And Silva should absolutely be an option the Irons explore, given how he has turned his career around with a €9m (£8m) move to Germany on the back of scoring just 10 goals in 41 games with AC Milan.
Silva also seems to thrive on competition having netted six of his 18 goals for the season since Luka Jovic returned to Frankfurt on loan on January 14, and even welcomed the return of the Real Madrid striker.
“I spoke to Andre and he said that it’s very, very important for him to have competition for places, that we have quality in the side,” Hutter said, via quotes by Bundesliga.com.
“That doesn’t bother him at all. Andre’s played at AC Milan and Sevilla, so it’s not like he’s not used to it, and we’ll see in the next few weeks that he’s able to cope with the competition.”
Silva would not be guaranteed a starting role at West Ham with Antonio the firm first-choice of Moyes, who the buck for the decision not to sign a striker in January stops at, as the West Ham boss was adamant that his side would not waste the £20m made from Haller’s sale.
“We didn’t get one, but we were looking, and we wanted to try and pick correctly. We had money to spend, we sold Seb earlier in the window so we had that,” the Hammers boss said, via quotes by the Evening Express.
“But we are trying to do things different at West Ham and we’re not going to follow the same path we have been following before. I chose to keep my money and hopefully we can start another rebuild come the summer.”
It remains to be seen if West Ham can sign Silva in the summer, but Moyes should absolutely urge the Irons to swoop in and test the waters in his eventual striker search, as the Frankfurt star can prove his decision not sign a Haller replacement in January was a masterclass and not a mistake.
AND in other news, West Ham failed to offload a £70k-p/w outcast in January despite a manager’s intent efforts…