On Sunday May 14th, we covered claims West Ham sent a scout to watch Benfica’s match against Vitoria Guimaraes. Scouting lists are reliable, with Portuguese clubs releasing official lists of those attending, so the question turned to who West Ham will have been watching in Benfica’s 5-0 demolition of Guimaraes.
We presented two possible candidates, one of which was Paulo Hurtado, with the Peruvian Vitoria Guimaraes forward linked to West Ham recently.
The other possibility we put forward was Raul Jimenez, based on Slaven Bilic’s previous attempt to sign the player, and the likelihood Benfica would agree to a transfer.
Rounding it off, we said ‘Should Bilic want another try then around €30-35m may be enough for the 26 year old.’
A day later, Portuguese newspaper Record ran the headline ‘WEST HAM POINTS TO RAUL JIMENEZ’, and said ‘according to the English press’, West Ham could make a move and would be prepared to pay €30m.
This was then picked up by English newspapers and websites and credited to Record, when all it had been was an educated guess.
Jimenez’s possible move to West Ham has made it to the Mexican striker’s native press, who have even been suggesting replacements, claims which have, of course, ended up in the Portuguese press, with Record on Saturday.
West Ham interest in Raul Jimenez makes sense, as we pointed out, but this has all got carried away with itself.
