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West Ham deal worth £40m in fee and wages comes to finale - report
By Tom Blackburn
West Ham have stepped down in their long-running pursuit of Carlos Bacca from AC Milan, according to a report.
The Mirror claimed at the end of July that West Ham had increased their bid for AC Milan forward 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.
However, Italian outlet Tutto Mercato Web now claim that West Ham ended their attempts to sign Bacca after he decided he wanted to stay in Milan.
A previous stumbling block for the Hammers was said to be the club’s absence of Champions League football next season, something Bacca was particularly keen on.
On Saturday, Premium Sport, via Football Italia, claimed that Inter hope to bring in Bacca from their rivals if Mauro Icardi leaves the club.
It is said that Napoli are also closely pursuing Icardi, who has also been linked with a move to Arsenal.
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.
The failure to sign Bacca will come as less of a blow to the Hammers, despite the recent arrival of Swansea striker Andre Ayew.
Ayew became 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.
In other West Ham transfer news, their former striker has completed a move to American minnows.