West Ham United are confident of completing a £13.5 million deal for Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic although commission fees for the defender’s agent have yet to be agreed, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.
It was a feature of West Ham’s superb 2020/21 campaign. Every time a player was unavailable through injury or suspension, someone came in and shone in their absence.
David Moyes’ side started the season with Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena at centre-half, keeping clean sheets in 4-0 and 3-0 thrashings of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City respectively.
Hammers fans may have feared the worst when Ogbonna and Balbuena succumbed to injuries but, with Craig Dawson and Issa Diop stepping up to the plate, a tight-knit, well-drilled side maintained their European push until the end.
Balbuena’s departure, however, has opened up a space for a new central defender.
And Serbia international Milenkovic will have to prove that he, like Ogbonna, Dawson and Diop, can be relied on to stand tall, week in, week out in this most daunting of divisions.
Nikola Milenkovic could be a £13.5m bargain for West Ham
Milenkovic, who has also been heavily linked with London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, is expected to be officially unveiled as a West Ham player before Sunday’s season opener at Newcastle United.
The Hammers are “optimistic” a deal will be done, with just one hurdle left. And that obstacle should be cleared without much danger once agreement is struck over how much commission should be paid to Milenkovic’s representatives.
The 6ft 5in giant is out of contract next summer and is therefore available for a cut-price fee of £13.5 million.
And while some have suggested a centre-half of such “incredible potential” could slot straight in at the likes of Juventus, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the London Stadium will be his destination instead.
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