Earlier this week, Gazzetta dello Sport reported West Ham have already made an €18m offer for Lecce’s Tiago Gabriel.
The Italian club rejected the offer, with Juventus now keeping an eye on the centre-back.
It remains to be seen if West Ham with a bigger bid, but big praise has now arrived for the Portuguese defender. TuttoJuve have spoken to Filipe Martins, who coached Gabriel at Estrela Amadora.
Asked directly about Juve’s interest in the 20-year-old, Martins said:
“The news didn’t surprise me at all, because Tiago is doing a great job at Lecce and with the Under-21 national team. He has a great mentality and great quality, a move to a bigger club would make perfect sense.”
The coach also compared Gabriel to Portuguese legend Ricardo Carvalho, who played for Chelsea and Real Madrid among others.
Describing the young centre-back, Martins said: “I’ve always thought Tiago resembles Ricardo Carvalho in his calmness and the way he plays, but he has a long stride like Jorge Andrade, who previously played for Juventus.”
West Ham target getting better as experience grows
He also provided insight into how Gabriel has improved since arriving in Italy earlier this year.
“I’ve been following his progress with great pride. Every time I see him play, he’s better and more complete. For a defender, he’s reached the perfect level of football. If he was already good at defending, he has everything it takes to become excellent.”
“He just needed to grow physically in terms of muscle mass and coordination because he’s very tall. The rest is all there.”
West Ham still have a chance to sign a very talented defender. Brentford are also linked, and the number of clubs is likely to grow.
So far this season, the youngster has played every Serie A game for Lecce. He’s impressed with his ground defending and has also shown reliability in the air.
Lecce are no strangers to making major sales, as seen from Patrick Dorgu’s move to Manchester United in January.
