Venezia are yet to receive a ‘concrete offer’ from West Ham United as the Premier League outfit are linked with the prolific Joel Pohjanpalo.
As doubts continue to swirl about Gianluca Scamacca’s future, and with Michail Antonio’s hamstrings tightening by the year, you can probably expect to see a new centre-forward posing for photos in claret-and-blue at some point between now and September 1st.
And while Joel Pohjanpalo is unlikely to be the first name on the lips of West Ham supporters, his statistics speak for themselves.
Pohjanpalo scored a career-best 17 goals for Venezia in Serie B last season. In fact, during his last 81 starts for Venezia, Union Berlin, Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Rizespor, the Finland international has plundered a highly-impressive 55 goals.
West Ham United like Joel Pohjanpaolo
Venezia are certainly expecting interest; La Nuovo Venezia reporting that West Ham are willing to take a punt on a man who scored with a typically predatory finish during Finland’s 1-0 victory over Denmark at Euro 2020.
West Ham are yet to firm up their interest just yet, however; Venezia director Filippo Antonelli insisting that no official offers have arrived.
“Pohjanpalo? We haven’t received any concrete offers yet, even if it is clear that he is an international-level striker,” Antonelli tells Corriere del Veneto.
“He is a regular in Finland and has just finished a season with 19 goals. So it is clear that he has admirers.”
The well-travelled Pohjanpalo – who once scored a Bundesliga hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen against Hamburg – admits to having turned down moves to both Liverpool and Leeds United earlier in his career.
After Venezia missed out on promotion to Serie A, we’d suggest that Pohjanpalo would be unlikely to snub English football for a third time if West Ham decide to turn their interest into something more ‘concrete’.
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