Report: West Ham and Tottenham want to sign striker with 10 goals in six games

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Premier League rivals West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur are looking to sign free-scoring Croatia U21 international Roko Simic from Austrian giants Red Bull Salzburg, as reported by Jeunes Footeaux.

What is it with FC Liefering and prolific centre-forwards?

First, it was Karim Adeyemi, scoring for fun during a loan spell at the second-tier outfit before becoming forcing his way into the German national team, catching the eye of Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Barcelona in the process.

Then it was Benjamin Sesko, the 6ft 4ins man who forced his way into the Salzburg starting XI after honing his talents at Liefering.

Now, it is Simic’s turn.

Is Roko Simic the second coming of Erling Haaland?

The son of former Croatia star Dario Simic, the Milan-born targetman has scored six times in nine games since joining Liefering on loan at the start of the season, in addition to five in four caps for his nation’s U21 side.

A hat-trick in this week’s 5-1 thrashing of Azerbaijan in the U21 European Championship qualifiers means Simic now has ten goals in his last six games.

Numbers like this don’t tend to go unnoticed for long and, inevitably, Simic Jr is already gaining quite the following, with Real Madrid and Monaco joining West Ham and Spurs in the race for his signature.

Somewhat inevitably, given the Red Bull connection, RB Leipzig have thrown their name into the ring too.

While Salzburg have made a name for themselves as a developers of – and sellers of – some of Europe’s most exciting up-and-coming talent, getting Simic out of the reigning Austrian Bundesliga champions will be no easy task.

Salzburg only signed Simic from Croatian side NK Lokomotiva in July, paying a hefty £4 million for a player who was only 17 at the time and had just three senior goals under his belt.

Clearly, Salzburg saw something special in Simic and, given that he is already being likened to another Red Bull graduate in Erling Haaland, it seems they may just have uncovered another diamond in the rough.