This week, the Brazilian media reported West Ham’s visit to Vasco da Gama.
It was first claimed that the trip made by Hammers’ Head of Recruitment Rob Newman was due to interest from the London side in winger Eguinaldo. However, when journalist Flavio Dias spoke to the player’s agent Mauricio Nassif, it was said the Premier League club were actually meeting all of Rio de Janeiro’s big sides.
That story may have sounded a little strange at first, but gets backed up today.
It’s now Canal do Pedrosa who, on YouTube, brings more details on the situation. He also claims to have spoken to Eguinaldo’s agent about West Ham’s interest, and the explanation is the same, this time with a few more details.
The Hammers are building a ‘scouting network’ in Rio de Janeiro. The London side are creating a ‘structure’ to give a deeper analysis to players from the local clubs: Vasco, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo.
Regarding Eguinaldo, many sides follow the player, but there’s no specific interest from West Ham, who scouted the winger just like they did with many other players. That’s all they have to say for now.
The Hammers are building a structure in Rio de Janeiro is very interesting news. Brazil is a huge country with games taking place in cities very far from each other. So by establishing some kind of headquarters in a place which hosts four big clubs, it’s a guarantee that there’ll be interesting matches there week after week.
If we only take current Premier League players who featured in Rio de Janeiro before, the list will include the likes of Fabinho, Richarlison, Lucas Paquetá, Douglas Luiz, Diego Carlos, Philippe Coutinho, Andreas Pereira, Lyanco and Thiago Silva.
