West Ham United have failed in their first offer to sign Jovane Cabral with Sporting Lisbon demanding £23 million for the highly-rated forward, according to A Bola.
One of the biggest clubs in Portuguese football often make even Daniel Levy look like a relative pushover in the transfer market so it should be no surprise that Sporting are not just going to let Cabral walk out of the door.
A Bola reported a fortnight ago that West Ham were leading the chase to sign the Cape Verde international, moving ahead of clubs from Germany, France and Italy.
Newly-promoted Fulham also saw a £9 million bid rejected in July.
But while Sporting are struggling to come to terms with the fallout from an ongoing financial crisis, the Lisbon giants have made it clear that, if you want Cabral, you have to pay and pay big.
West Ham have already seen an approach batted away with the Ivorian outfit demanding £23 million for a forward who has scored just ten goals in 53 games throughout his time at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Hammers fans everywhere will be praying this does not become a repeat of the William Carvalho situation, though Cabral’s future is already starting to become something of a saga over in Portugal.
Fast, skilful and very useful on the counter attack, the 22-year-old would undoubtedly improve West Ham’s forward line. But he will face a battle for that right-wing role considering that Jarrod Bowen has made the position his own in recent weeks.
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