West Ham United may be given a second shot at signing River Plate youngster Gonzalo Montiel after making a move in the January transfer window.
Reports in January indicated the Hammers were keen on the young full-back as they sought out a long-term replacement for Pablo Zabaleta.
His compatriot Montiel is the man they identified, however, they saw an initial loan bid, which included a purchase option at the end of it, rejected by the Argentinian club.
Since then it’s been regularly suggested they are still in the running, with several reports indicating he can be secured for between $15-20m.
Those reports have continued despite the outbreak of the Coronavirus, indicating that West Ham’s interest is serious and the player is very much on their radar.
That’s now been confirmed by the 23 year old’s agent, Marcelo Carracedo, who has revealed his asking price will have now fallen although his immediate future appears to still be in Argentina.
“For now he is going to stay in River,” he told Fútbol910, relayed by El Intransigente.
“Before all this happened, there was a lot of interest. I thought that the pandemic was going to slow down a little, but calls kept coming.
“There are many teams that are interested, but everything is very green. In a normal situation Montiel was 90% gone, but now I don’t know.
“They (West Ham) wanted to make a high loan with a £10m option because they were having trouble with the Financial Fair Play.
“River said no because they were fighting for things and that way they were not going to let him go.
“It will be an important part of defining whether or not to stay when an offer arrives. It was talked about when West Ham arrived.
“Now there is no soccer in Argentina, and if an offer comes, you have to listen to it.
“Obviously, the final word is still with River. Today, eight million is a good offer. It will be a matter of getting together and analysing with the people of River.”
