Jonathan Calleri is keen to terminate his loan contract with West Ham, Sport Witness can confirm.
As reported on Tuesday, the player is unhappy with his lack of game time under Slaven Bilic and is pushing for a move in January.
Sport Witness have learned that the striker didn’t want a move to West Ham in the first place. His first option was La Liga’s Europa League champions Sevilla, and then Serie A’s Inter Milan, a club always popular with South Americans.
As neither of those transfers managed to come off, he ended up signing for West Ham instead, who were his last option in terms of a move to Europe.
However, things are not exactly as reported reported in Brazil this week. Calleri is not trying to return to São Paulo, since the player would see the move as a step back in his career.
The West Ham player keeps constant contact with board members of his former club, but hasn’t told them he’s keen to rejoin.
Now with an EU passport, Calleri wants to stay in Europe, but not at West Ham
Calleri wants to remain in Europe, where he believes he can still succeed and has recently got an EU passport, something he’s been trying to finalise for some time.
The 23-year-old is on loan at West Ham until the end of the season. His rights belong to Maldonado, an Uruguayan club used by an investment group, who have already loaned him to São Paulo, but are finding it difficult to sell him and recover the €11m they paid, let alone make a profit on the deal.
After nine appearances for the Hammers, Calleri is still to score a goal or make an assist. Along with Simone Zaza, bought from Juventus, Calleri looks to have been a buy that was focused on availability rather than Bilic’s specific choices.
