Club Brugge midfielder Hans Vanaken has been urged to ignore interest from West Ham United and stay with the Belgian club.
Vanaken has been linked with a move to the London Stadium for the last few years, but a move has never ended up happening.
He finds himself being targeted by West Ham once again this year, with David Moyes keen to add a creative midfielder to his squad after Nikola Vlasic departed on loan.
They’ve been pushing for a deal to happen this week and it’s been made clear in Belgium that the player is determined to make the move as he sees it as his last chance to play in the Premier League.
At the moment Club Brugge aren’t interested in talking with West Ham and are determined to keep their star player beyond the end of the transfer window.
With Vanaken seemingly pushing for it to happen, though, there is every chance they will change that stance in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, they’re likely trying to convince Vanaken to change his mind and the player has now been urged to stay by lead singer of the band Cowboys & Aliens (big in Belgium), Henk Vanhee.
“Here in Bruges, we are ready with the medal for eternal merit as the only, real and rightful successor to Raoul Lambert and Jan Ceulemans,” he said via his column in KW.
“Your painting will soon be displayed on the wall at Basecamp Knokke-Heist, as an example for the young talents, and a statue will be erected at the new Jan Breydel Stadium when, tired of football, you will put away your football boots.
“You will not find this status in the television-fuelled Premier League, Hans. I know West Ham United a little.
“A couple of East Enders characters love it, and there’s a lost European Cup final against the Gulle Gueuze pourers from god-awful Anderlecht.
“London Stadium is no upgrade from the cosy Upton Park of old either, I hear from my friends who regularly pop in and out of England in sympathy with this underdog.
“I wouldn’t do it, Hans. Just go into the Champions League as captain of Club and, together with blue and black, take the next step in the development of the most beautiful team in Belgium. That medal and statue have been reserved.”
