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West Ham given boost to land target in deal worth £40m in fee and wages - reports
By Dominic Toner
West Ham are in pole position to land forward Carlos Bacca after Paris Saint-Germain ended their pursuit, according to a report.
The Mirror reported earlier this week that the Hammers had made a fresh club-record move to try and make Bacca their marquee summer signing.
It is said West Ham have increased their bid for Bacca to £27million and offered him a four-year contract worth£70,000-a-week to make him the club’s third top earner behind Dimitri Payet and Andy Carroll. Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta claims the deal is worth £40million in fee and wages.
The Mirror now claim that French giants PSG have pulled out of the race to sign the 29-year-old, leaving West Ham in a strong position to land the striker.
The report details that teams in France are only allowed four non-EU players in their squads and manager Unai Emery has already filled up their allocation with Brazilian quarter David Luiz, Lucas Moura, Maxwell and Thiago Silva.
Jack Sullivan, the son of West Ham’s co-owner David Sullivan, recently claimed on his personal Twitter account that the east London club had agreed a fee with the Italian giants and the Colombia international would make a decision regarding his future.
Bacca joined Milan from Sevilla 12 months ago for a fee of around £22million after his release clause was activated and is contracted to the Italian giants until 2019.
The 33-time capped international starred for the Italian giants last season where he scored 20 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions.
Should West Ham agree terms, Bacca will become Slaven Bilic’s seventh signing of the summer following the arrivals of Gokhan Tore, Sofiane Feghouli, Toni Martinez, Havard Nordtveit, Ashley Fletcher and Domingos Quina.
The Colombia international would also become the most expensive purchase in the east London club’s history, exceeding the £15million spent on the signing of Andy Carroll from Liverpool in 2013.
In other West Ham transfer news, they are discussing a player-swap deal with Swansea as they eye their attacker.