Late on Friday, we relayed a claim from TuttoMercatoWeb in Italy stating that West Ham had turned their attention to Mario Balotelli.
Manuel Pellegrini was said to have personally ‘enquired’ about the Nice striker, who has been touted as being very close to signing for Marseille over the past few days.
The Italian would come in to replace Marko Arnautovic, who is the subject of a very large offer from China.
Fast forward to Tuesday and Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Carlo Laudisa has confirmed the TuttoMercatoWeb information, explaining that West Ham have ‘come forward’ for Balotelli, presenting a ‘strong candidacy’ that overtakes Marseille’s.
A quick article on the Italian newspaper’s website adds the forward finds the idea of a move to the Premier League ‘enticing’, and not only because of the financial side of things.
The details are pretty much non-existent, but with two Italian sources reporting the same story, perhaps West Ham really are making a move for Balotelli.
Whether he’s the right man to replace Arnautovic, however, remains to be seen.
