Exclusive: West Ham submitted £45m bid for Italy international

Exclusive: West Ham submitted £45m bid for Italy international

Wayne Veysey

Founder & Managing Director AUTHORITY Former chief correspondent at Evening Standard, Goal and Press Association with nearly three decades in national, regional and digital news and sports journalism. Wayne directs the network’s news strategy and high-level operations. FOCUS Editorial direction for the 11-site network and newsroom management. THE BRIEF Wayne oversees the network’s editorial standards across the network. He provides the final sign-off on all headline scoops, ensuring content across all platforms meets the standards required for a high-velocity newsroom.

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EXCLUSIVE By Wayne Veysey

West Ham submitted a £45million bid for Italy striker Andrea Belotti during the summer, Football Insider can reveal.

The Hammers tabled the mammoth offer during their estnesive centre-forward search but were snubbed by the 25-year-old's club Torino, who wanted a £50million-plus fee for him.

A West Ham source has told Football Insider that Belotti was a firm window target for the club as they scoured the globe for a goalscorer capable of scoring consistently at Premier League level.

The Londoners eventually abandoned their pursuit as they could not agree a price with Torino.

They subsequently signed Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt for a club-record fee of £45million including performance-related variables.

Belotti has an outstanding record for Torino since signing from Palermo in the summer of 2015.

He has scored 72 goals and supplied 14 assists from 150 matches, including 17 goals from 39 games last season.

The striker has also accumulated 22 Italy caps, which have yielded five goals.

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