West Ham United have made a ‘covert’ move to potentially sign striker El Bilal Touré from UD Almería this summer.
That’s according to Diario de Almería, who say the Hammers would have no issue paying the striker’s release clause thanks to the money made from Declan Rice’s sale to Arsenal.
The newspaper explains that while the sale of El Bilal Touré is yet to come to fruition this summer, at Almería ‘calm and tranquility remain’ because they know that a definitive offer will arrive sooner rather than later for him.
They want to see the player’s €40m release clause matched in any deal but are willing to discuss deals below that if they suit.
So far it has been Everton and Atalanta who have been keen, seeing separate bids for the player rejected by the Spanish club.
Both are still in the race but the Toffees’ efforts to sign Arnaut Danjuma and Wilfried Gnonto, and Atalanta’s focus on selling Rasmus Højlund, means their attentions are elsewhere.
While they wait to decide, West Ham ‘appears as a covert’ option to take the player to the Premier League this summer. They were interested in the striker last summer, before his move to Almería from Stade Reims.
They now have a ‘full wallet’ thanks to Rice’s €115m move to Arsenal so El Bilal Touré’s release clause would not be a problem for them.
They are waiting to make their move and present a firm offer because they want to move on one of their current forwards, Michail Antonio, Danny Ings or Gianluca Scamacca first and foremost.
Almería are not panicking because they’re confident a bid will be made and sooner rather than later, as opposed to the sale of Umar Sadiq, which was done at the last minute.
Whether El Bilal Touré ends up at West Ham remains to be seen but they are seemingly working behind the scenes, with Almería believing they can secure a new club record sale from them or the striker’s other suitors.
