West Ham United were linked with Cristian Pavon before the World Cup, and now reportedly have their eye on his countryman.
West Ham may have got very little wrong during this summer – or at least, that appears to be the case – but the Hammers fans would perhaps be forgiven for hoping that Manuel Pellegrini may be tempted to make a move for Cristian Pavon.
TEAMtalk linked the Argentinian winger with the Hammers ahead of the World Cup, and based on some of his performances in Russia, it appears that he would have the potential to prove an absolutely inspired signing for the Irons if anything did happen in the remaining weeks of the window.
It is not clear whether Pavon remains on the radar at all, but it does appear that Pellegrini’s focus may have switched slightly, with ESPN’s live transfer blog (23/07; 14:30) reporting that he is now interested in Independiente forward Martin Benitez.
Benitez could prove to be a potential bargain for the Hammers given that transfermarkt shows that his contract with his current club expires next year.
Nevertheless, it could certainly be argued that Benitez would be a slightly underwhelming signing because of the fairly recent links with Pavon.
The latter is a couple of years younger, has a slightly better record at club level with Boca Juniors and boasts a handful of caps in an Argentina side that – on paper – is strong enough going forward that a player of Mauro Icardi’s calibre was left out of the squad for the World Cup.
If signed, Benitez may prove to be better than anyone could have imagined for the Hammers in the same way that Manuel Lanzini proved to be following his arrival from Abu Dhabi. But in a summer that has seen West Ham make so many statements in the market, there is no question that signing Pavon would be the more impressive deal right now.
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