West Ham offer club record £27.1m for William Carvalho

West Ham United have reportedly bid a club record €30 million (£27.1m) for Sporting Lisbon defensive midfielder, William Carvalho. According to the Daily Mail, Sporting are looking for an offer closer to Carvalho’s £39.5million release clause. Club representatives have been in Lisbon for a week to iron out a deal for the highly-rated midfielder.

Manchester City, Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion are also interested in acquiring Carvalho - all teams in need of defensive midfielders.

Knowing West Ham’s owners like we do, I can’t see the club meeting Carvalho’s release clause. Further, Sporting are notoriously difficult to negotiate with, potentially making the transfer a tough ask.

The 25 year-old won Euro 2016 last summer with Portugal, anchoring the midfield ahead of José Fonte and the rest of the defence. His team only conceded one goal during the knockout stages of the tournament, showing the side’s formidable defence. Carvalho has made 37 appearances for his country, scoring his first goal in November 2016 against Latvia.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

Carvalho helped Sporting achieve a third place finish in last season’s Primeira Liga. The midfielder has scored nine goals in 137 for the Portuguese club, during four seasons there. Sky Sports understand that Carvalho is keen to move to the Premier League, despite helping his team qualify for the early rounds of the Champions League.

Photo by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images

West Ham should be happy with how the club has conducted business this off-season. Signing two quality forwards Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic, will really help add goals. Slaven Bilic is keen to focus on improving the spine of the team by looking to sign a formidable ball-winning midfielder to protect the defence.

Meanwhile, rumours abound that the much-maligned Robert Snodgrass could be leaving West Ham in order to help trim the wage bill. Aston Villa are rumoured to be interested in the Scotland international.

Given the various factors involved in signing William Carvalho, I deem it unlikely to materalise. But if the Hammers can somehow pull of this move it would be a huge deal for the club. Mouths would water at the prospect of Obiang and Carvalho tearing up the midfield. Let’s keep our fingers crossed but understand the difficulties of the situation.