Perhaps West Ham and Sporting are destined to have an ongoing history of tussles that find their way into the media.
It is hard to forget the Hammers’ efforts to sign William Carvalho from Sporting and the subsequent very public argument. Bruno De Carvalho was then the president of the Portuguese club and to say he was erratic is being kind.
After West Ham made a ridiculously low offer for the midfielder, he became furious. Insults and insinuations were traded, sometimes via the media and sometimes directly, before De Carvalho published all the correspondence and everyone started threatening legal action.
Of course, it went nowhere but was highly entertaining.
Just this week, there’s been the drama of Sporting’s manager Ruben Amorim flying to London for West Ham talks, which didn’t seem to go well, and Thursday’s edition of Record talks about the battle between the clubs for Zeno Debast.
Sporting could sell Ousmane Diomande and Goncalo Inacio for huge fees this summer, but they want to source a replacement on the cheap. That’s where Anderlecht’s Debast comes in, and he has just over a year left on his current contract.
Record make clear that there’s a belief in Lisbon they’ve convinced Debast, who would choose them over West Ham, and now it’s a case of convincing Anderlecht.
The Belgian side want €18m+ and Sporting don’t want to go above €16m. Debast is likely worth at least €20m, and West Ham could easily flex their financial muscle and blow others out of the water.
If those in charge at the London club are a little stung over their Amorim experience this may be a way to calm that, and Debast is an excellent central defensive talent, who could help now and also grow further in the future.
Sporting and Anderlecht have a meeting in the next few days to talk about a million here or there, maybe that needs disrupting.
