West Ham United and Julen Lopetegui are thought to have made contact over a move to sign a Serie A defender at the peak of his powers.
West Ham transfer news
New manager Lopetegui is planning for his first season at the London Stadium and has already admitted that he will try to put his own stamp on things with the Hammers.
“I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big Club. We will try to put our stamp on the Club. I feel that we have a fantastic platform. I think the last few years have been very good years to have this base, of course, but my ambition as a coach is always to be better and better, to achieve more and bigger aims and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this – to compete. We are very ambitious about this.
“I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because our commitment is 100 per cent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.”
That could include in the transfer market, with sporting director Tim Steidten seemingly closing in on Brazilian teenager Luis Guilherme as the first signing of the Lopetegui era.
A deal worth over £25m has reportedly been agreed with Palmeiras and Guilherme is set to undergo a medical, and by the looks of things, West Ham are now moving on to signing number two.
According to reports from Italy, relayed by Sport Witness, West Ham have made contact with Udinese over a possible deal to sign defender Nehuen Perez. The report claims that Napoli wanted Perez in January and offered €16m which was rejected, so the Irons may need to bid more than that figure.
Perez is primarily a centre-back but can also play as a right-back so would offer Lopetegui a versatile defensive option. The 23-year-old is an Argentina international and after coming through the books with Atletico Madrid, completed a permanent move to Udinese in 2022.
Since then, Perez has gone from strength to strength, making 94 appearances for his current employers and his Transfermarkt valuation rocketing to a career-high €13m, with Football Talent Scout Jacek Kulig calling him a “complete” defender when emerging in 2020.
A move to London could be one to watch for Perez, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Hammers launch a bid for a player at the very top of his game.
