Reports suggesting that West Ham United were on the verge of sealing a £22 million deal to bring Robert Renan to the Premier League have left Brazilian reporter Fabio Aleixo baffled.
UOL are often pretty reliable when it comes to charting the movers and shakers of the Brazilian market. But they were certainly wide of the mark when they reported, last week, that Robert Renan was on his way to the London Stadium.
West Ham United, UOL said, had agreed a £22 million deal with Zenit St Petersburg.
And while Renan is still likely to leave the Russian champions in January – Aleixo is ‘100 per cent’ certain of that – West Ham will not be his destination.
West Ham United’s Robert Renan links dismissed
“No. I don’t know where this rumour comes from,” Aleixo tells RB Sport.
Renan’s agent has already dismissed those West Ham claims as ‘a lie’, with the Brazil Under 20 international expected to return across the Atlantic instead. Internacional are keen on a player who made his name at local rivals Corinthians.
“Internacional really wants Renan,” Aleixo adds, the highly-rated centre-half likely to follow in the footsteps of another former Zenit man in Yuri Alberto by returning to Brazilian soil .
“Now, the task of the management of Internacional is to come to an agreement with Zenit. The situation is not very simple (but) everyone has already realised that (Zenit coach Sergei) Semak doesn’t really like the way Renan plays.”
Thilo Kehrer could return to Bundesliga
West Ham could yet make a move for a different defender in January. Especially if Thilo Kehrer, who has barely kicked a ball in the Premier League this term, joins Eintracht Frankfurt. The Germany international is reportedly in talks with the Bundesliga outfit, and would join Manchester United misfit Donny Van de Beek at the 2022 Europa League champions.
The Hammers climbed up to eighth in the table with a 3-0 hammering of Wolves on Sunday.
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