Corinthians president Duilio Monteiro Alves has confirmed that he rejected a £14 million bid from Premier League outfit West Ham United for striker Yuri Alberto during the summer transfer window.
Speaking to UOL and Meu Timao, Alves was keen to explain that the reasoning behind his decision. And it’s simple really. Yuri Alberto, he feels, could soon be worth a damn sight more.
West Ham United offered £14 million for the former Zenit St Petersburg forward late in the summer, director Tim Steitdten travelling out to South America for talks before the window closed on September 1st (Sky Sports).
The Corinthians chief, however, feels that Alberto could soon command a far larger fee, providing he can rediscover the form which made him one of the continent’s most coveted young strikers a couple of years ago.
West Ham United wanted Yuri Alberto
“If he scores four or five goals, he’ll be worth 35 (million euros) again,” Alves argues. “I had an offer from West Ham for 16 million euros and we didn’t do it (the deal).”
Whether Alberto can rediscover the form of his Internacional days, however, remains to be seen. The one-time Brazil international was one of the country’s hottest forwards at Internacional. Though it has been quite a while now since he was banging in the goals at such a rate.
Alberto has played a monstrous 60 games for Corinthians in 2023, but has only hit the net on 15 occasions. A fresh approach from West Ham in the winter still cannot be ruled out, however, with neither Michail Antonio nor Danny Ings finding goals easy to come by either.
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Chelsea’s Armando Broja, Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy, Bayer Leverkusen’s Adam Hlozek and Vangelis Pavlidis of AZ Alkmaar have all been linked with a January switch to the London Stadium, though one Eredivisie expert has doubts about whether the latter can translate his excellent form to the Premier League.
“I always remain conservative with Pavlidis about how good he actually is,” former Ajax and PSV ace Kenneth Perez tells ESPN. “It also depends on the competition we are talking about. If he plays in the Netherlands for the rest of his life, he will be a very good striker.
“I don’t know (if he can be as successful elsewhere). If I had twenty million euros (£17 million), I wouldn’t buy him.”
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