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Jonathan Calleri’s time at West Ham United has been not been as fruitful as he or the club would have wished. Calleri, loanee from third party ownership front Deportivo Maldonado in Uruguay, had impressed from his time at South American club giants Boca Juniors and Sao Paulo, and was set for a loan to Europe so that the “club’s” owners would cash in on a big-money deal in one of the top leagues.
Of course, along with seemingly everything else this season, those plans quickly were laid to rest as the Dimitri Payet situation quickly sucked the oxygen out of the room in the middle of the season and now the club’s awful run to finish the season has left everyone wondering where it all went wrong.
Uma pintura do Calleri no treino de ontem do West Ham, de letra. pic.twitter.com/Dxul2p34Z3
— TRI! CÔ! VÔ! (@tricovo) March 17, 2017
Calleri has displayed flashes of the form he had in South America that had made him a hot prospect, but his absence was felt all too often for the team and the fact that he did not even get a start when both Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho were both out injured speaks volumes towards his ability to play striker in the Premier League. Maybe he’s just not trusted by the manager, but even with Bilic hyping him before the Sunderland match, Calleri still barely saw the pitch.
Inter Milan want to sign Calleri this summer and Kia Joorabchian (remember him?) is pushing for the deal to happen.
— West Ham News (@WHUFC_News) April 20, 2017
[via @SportRepubblica] pic.twitter.com/WiV08MObyT
Now today, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that Inter Milan might be interested in Jonathan Calleri because of the interest that Kia Joorabchian has in pushing ahead a deal for Calleri to head to the blue side of Milan. Yes, Hammer fans, that’s the SAME Kia Joorabchian that was involved in the “loan” move that brought Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United, a move that ended all in tears for the club. And yes, in case anyone is curious, Joorabchian has links to Deportivo Maldonado, with his English lawyer, Graham Shear, being one of the owners of the club. Joorabchian is still considered one of the most powerful agents in world football, and so it is no surprise that one of his “clients” will be up for a big money move to Italy.
Jonathan Calleri, we hardly knew thee. However, for a striker that failed to score against Accrington Stanley, he sure does draw a lot of attention and a lot of money being exchanged for his services.