Revealed: West Ham agree terms of £40m deal in fee & wages

Revealed: West Ham agree terms of £40m deal in fee & wages

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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By Wayne Veysey

West Ham have agreed the terms of a deal worth £40million in total for Villarreal star Pablo Fornals, Football Insider understands.

The Hammers are on the verge of signing the attacking midfielder, 23, after extensive negotiations led by director of football Mario Husillos this week.

A West Ham source has told Football Insider that the Hammers are set to pay a transfer fee of £24million for Fornals as well as hand him a five-year contract worth £60,000-a-week.

This means the total cost of the deal is £40million, although the transfer fee as well as the wages will be spread across a number of years.

It would represent the second highest fee West Ham have ever paid for a player after the club-record signing of Felipe Anderson from Lazio last year.

West Ham's pursuit had been led by Husillos, who knows Fornals well from his time at Malaga, who used to also be managed by Manuel Pellegrini.

The playmaker has been capped twice by Spain and was a key player for Villarreal in 2018-19, scoring five goals and supplying six assists from 50 matches in all competitions.

West Ham were impressed not only by the player's contribution in La Liga, but also in the Europa League as he proved to be an influential figure in them reaching the quarter-finals.

The London club are poised to announce the signing of Fornals before the end of this week.

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