West Ham United could reportedly miss out on Portugal’s star midfielder William Carvalho with his club Sporting Lisbon looking to increase their demands just at the last moment after a deal was almost locked. Manager Slaven Bilic, however, remains an admirer of the defensive midfielder and would want to take another chance to sign him before the club goes on to his alternatives.
The Hammers got a thunderous reality check in their opening game on Sunday when they visited Old Trafford to play Manchester United. All the pre-season talks and exciting names on the paper flushed out as the Red Devils thrashed Bilic’s men 4-0. More than the outcome it was the nature of it that would concern for the fans.
West Ham could hardly get a touch of the ball the whole game as Jose Mourinho’s men attempted to drill their way in at every opportunity. It would be wrong to say that the Hammers weren’t physically capable against the United side but they were just not ready for the tempo that the game was played in.
While new signings of Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic got very little time and space on the ball, the midfield pair of Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble was in more than one way responsible for the result. United have a tremendous two-man midfield in Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba, who are both physically and technically capable of making things out of nothing but Bilic’s midfield seems to have been bullied every time they had the ball.
There has been no significant improvement in their midfield from last season whatsoever, and unless Bilic brings in an upgrade they are likely to remain dominated by top sides in the league. The option of Carvalho has been perfect to fit Bilic’s team and the player has also been keen on a move to the league.
While his preferred position is in the defensive midfield, where Sporting Lisbon has mostly played him so far, he is a tremendous utility player on the flanks as well as in the central defence. His ability to distribute balls from the deep field makes him a good option to have in the Premier League.
The Hammers are reportedly looking at other options like FC Porto central midfielder Danilo Pereira if Sporting CP continues to frustrate them in Carvalho’s deal. The Irons are reportedly willing to pay him £31 million but now with them asking in excess of €40m, Pereira or Benfica’s Serbian midfielder Ljubomir Fejsa are also on their radar.
