West Ham United were reportedly one of the many Premier League clubs who sent scouts to watch Benfica play Porto in the Portuguese league on Sunday.
With the Eagles being defeated 1-0 at home, the result has put the Dragons top of the table, with only four more fixtures to win the title.
It’s newspaper O Jogo which reports West Ham’s presence at the game, claiming there was one specific target they were keeping an eye on: Raul Jimenez.
The Mexican striker has been linked to a few Premier League sides in the past year, and O Jogo seems certain that West Ham were watching him this weekend.
There’s a reason why we could doubt this info a little bit. O Jogo normally lists the scouts without claiming who the targets on the pitch were.
This time, they basically point out a player for each Premier League club who were scouting the match, mostly based on previous transfer rumours.
As Jimenez has been linked to West Ham in the past, and there was no other obvious target on the pitch, it really sounds like O Jogo picked the most likely player.
Anyway, Jimenez had a poor game. As always, his physique helped him to fight for all the balls in attack, but that wasn’t nearly enough to create many chances. With Benfica not playing well generally, the striker barely had opportunities to score a goal.
It’s very likely that the Mexican international will leave the Eagles this summer, but his price remains a mystery. Benfica continue to dream with a €50m sale, although clubs will hardly pay that for a striker who has only eight goals scored this season.
In December it was reported West Ham were preparing a €30m offer for the player, and that, realistically, should be more than enough. But Benfica aren’t often very realistic.
