Tuesday saw reliable reports from Spain that West Ham had given up on Maxi Gomez, faced with Celta Vigo’s demand they pay the player’s €50m clause in one go.
That led Gomez’s agents to come to an agreement with Valencia, and everyone on the Spanish side of the deal was supposed to live happily ever after.
Earlier on Wednesday we covered some claims from Super Deporte which explained that whilst Valencia are confident the deal was agreed and the player will sign for them, club officials had a sleepless night, aware West Ham could appear at any time and turn their waking hours into a nightmare.
Super Deporte said the striker was ‘lost in the mountains of Uruguay’. He’s been on holiday in a remote area and wasn’t able to sign the contract.
Now the same Valencia newspaper go with a headline saying: ‘Maxi Gomez travels to Spain but beware, West Ham does not give up!’
The footballer has surfaced and is no longer ‘incommunicado’. He’s already on his way Spain, but… West Ham ‘don’t throw in the towel’.
This isn’t just a suggestion, Super Deporte say they’ve been told the Hammers, on Wednesday, have continued throwing ‘astronomical’ sums at Gomez to convince him not to sign for Valencia.
Even if he caved in, there would still be the Celta Vigo issue, and that they won’t negotiate with West Ham. The only hope this has, and it’s not a lot, is that either the English club suddenly decide paying €50m in one go is fine, and Gomez goes for it, or he refuses point-blank to sign for Valencia, and then Celta see that deal die.
