West Ham United had a scout in the stands to watch Club Brugge’s clash with Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League on Wednesday evening.
That’s according to Het Nieuwsblad, who say West Ham were one of several sides to send a scout to Jay Breydel for the game.
Reports before the Europa Conference League clash had indicated that the Belgian side were expecting a strong contingent of scouts to be in attendance for the clash, with Brugge currently boasting several players of interest and Fiorentina worth looking at too.
West Ham were believed to be among them, and Het Nieuwsblad say they were there alongside Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and others.
They ended up watching a 1-1 draw between the two sides, with Hans Vanaken opening the scoring on the 20th minute mark but a Lucas Beltran penalty levelling the scores in the 85th minute and seeing the Italian side through to the final.
They, though, were left frustrated as he pulled out of the clash after picking up a knock in the last training sessions before the game.
That meant it was a missed opportunity for those in attendance, who they believe may regret not being present to take advantage of the scouts in attendance.
A good performance from him could have ‘encouraged’ bids this summer but instead the suitors will again have taken notice of his ‘apparently very fragile’ body, with him already missing the trip to PAOK in the last round and most of the play-offs in Belgium.
The injuries also add to the negative stories around him, which have become increasingly louder in recent weeks and claimed he’s not the easiest player to work with in the group.
What does work in his favour are his ‘fantastic statistics’ which currently have him at 39 goals and 24 assists in 94 matches, numbers that make him too good for the Belgian side and Belgian football and had attracted the scouts for this game, including those from West Ham.
