West Ham reach verbal agreement for £9m “warrior”

After a usually constructive Premier League Summer season Sequence marketing campaign, can West Ham United begin to construct some positivity forward of the brand new season?

On Sunday, objectives from Niclas Füllkrug and Jarrod Bowen noticed the Hammers beat Bournemouth 2-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

4 days earlier, Graham Potter’s crew had additionally defeated Everton 2-1 in Chicago, thereby ending second within the Summer season Sequence standings, under solely Manchester United, who they’d narrowly misplaced 2-1 towards of their US-tour opener in East Rutherford.

After being appointed in January, Potter received solely 5 of 19 matches in cost, thereby choosing up fewer points-per-game than his sacked predecessor, Julen Lopetegui, so will come into this new marketing campaign beneath severe scrutiny.

If the Irons are going to get again to difficult for European qualification, they nonetheless require just a few extra signings, so might one be about to reach?

West Ham United’s switch search

Following the discharge of veteran Łukasz Fabiański, West Ham have been out there for a brand new goalkeeper all through the summer season, searching for to improve Alphonse Areola, following the Frenchman’s underwhelming marketing campaign.

The Hammers have been considering Mads Hermansen of Leicester Metropolis, Viktor Johansson of Stoke Metropolis and Sheffield United’s Michael Cooper, however have seemingly settled on their primary goal to change into primary.

That is as a result of, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, West Ham are “in superior talks” with Botafogo to signal their shot-stopper John Victor.

Romano provides elsewhere that the Hammers are actually “advancing to key levels” of the deal, and that John “desires the transfer”, subsequently stating that they’ve reached a “verbal settlement”. He’ll price round £9m.

Botafogo, for his or her half, “have reached an settlement” to signal Neto from Bournemouth, as reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic, thereby securing a alternative, suggesting additional that John is ready to swap Rio de Janeiro for East London.

How John Victor will enhance West Ham

As already outlined, goalkeeper is definitely a place of want at West Ham, and the desk under paperwork why.

Because the desk outlines, it was truly the now-departed Fabiański who largely boasted higher numbers within the Premier League final season, most notably in terms of save proportion and xG prevented, however neither he nor Areola lined themselves in glory.

Thus, John will certainly arrive to be the starter and, assuming the deal is completed in time, that means the Brazilian can be donning the gloves on the Stadium of Gentle towards Sunderland on the opening day of the season.

The 29-year-old joined Botafogo from Santos in January 2024 and picked a great time to maneuver to the Engenhão, a key determine as Fogo received their first Brasileirão title since 1995, in addition to their first-ever Copa Libertadores trophy, with John the primary all through the marketing campaign.

He then captured international consideration in the course of the Membership World Cup earlier this summer season, beginning all 4 matches as his crew reached the knockout levels, most notably defeating European champions Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 on the Rose Bowl.

These statistics at a high-level competitors are definitely encouraging, therefore why teammate Philipe Sampaio, who’s a centre-back, described his goalkeeper as a “warrior”.

Meantime, Matt Pyzdrowski of the Athletic was definitely impressed, first praising the ‘high quality of his distribution’ and ‘technical means’ by way of in possession with the ball at his ft.

Moreover, they go onto remark that John ‘makes full use of his bodily presence’ in addition to the truth that the 29 12 months outdated is a ‘high-level performer’ in terms of shot-stopping, concluding that he can be a ‘good’ and inexpensive addition for whichever European membership are capable of get their palms on him.

So why will he show to be a greater signing than future teammate Callum Wilson?

Effectively, whereas the England worldwide’s high quality has by no means been doubtful, he can by no means be totally relied upon in terms of health and availability, seeing simply 458 minutes of motion for Newcastle final season as a result of a again after which hamstring damage.

On high of this, Wilson is just not a assured starter, particularly after Füllkrug and membership captain Bowen linked up very properly as a entrance two in the course of the pre-season friendlies out in America. Regardless of the bonus of arriving on a free, the 33-year-old’s file of simply 11 objectives in all competitions throughout the final two seasons is hardly essentially the most encouraging.

Thus, whereas Wilson might nonetheless show to be a shrewd addition, fitness-permitting John might develop into a transformational signing, not solely because of his personal high quality, however on condition that he can be filling a place of real want.