Betting update: West Ham installed favourites to sign proven PL playmaker
By Harry Sykes
West Ham have been installed as the bookmakers’ favourites to sign Swansea playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer.
Sky Bet have priced the Hammers at 5/1 to land the 27-year-old, placing them ahead of Everton (8/1) and Newcastle (10/1) in the market.
There is likely to be considerable turnover in the West Ham playing squad this summer following a series of flop signings in the main 2016 transfer window.
Slaven Bilic’s squad have struggled to score goals and create opportunities, with their 28 Premier League fixtures yielding 38 goals.
They also sold Dimitri Payet for £25million in January, which left a major creative hole in their squad.
Sports site Bleacher Report claimed last week that Everton are keeping a close eye on Sigurdsson and that he is one of their principal summer targets.
It is said that an offer of between £20million and £25million could be enough to seal the deal for a player who is proven in the Premier League.
Sigurdsson has had another impressive season for relegation-threatened Swansea, scoring nine goals and supplying 11 assists in 30 matches in all competitions, with all but one of those strikes coming in the Premier League.
He joined the Swans from Tottenham in the summer of 2014 for £9million after being a fringe player at White Hart Lane under Tim Sherwood and Andre Villas-Boas.
Football Insider verdict:
Yes, Sigurdsson is technically excellent, proven in the Premier League and has pretty hand stats. He consistently delivers for a side who have fought against relegation in the past two seasons. But that does not mean he is the answer for West Ham. The 27-year-old is at his most effective when the game stops, in dead-ball situations. The problem is he is not quite such a superstar when someone is needed to take charge of a game and design it in their image. West Ham are better off putting more trust in Manuel Lanzini, who has the potential to invigorate those around him and carry the ball forward to scare the opposition.
In other West Ham transfer news, an emerging star signed for big money last year is set to be offloaded by Bilic in the summer.
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