West Ham United have been linked with a move for a third Brazilian in as many days as Manuel Pellegrini ramps up his summer overhaul.
West Ham have been linked with a host of signings since the Chilean was appointed as David Moyes’ successor in East London.
The Hammers have been linked with moves for Armando Izzo, Tom Cairney and Brazilian duo Marlon Santos and sensational attacker Felipe Anderson while the club is expected to complete the free transfer signing of Ryan Fredericks from Fulham.
It is the interest in Anderson which has West Ham fans excited most, though, with the pacy and skilled playmaker just the kind of player supporters want to see at the club.
Anderson is not the only Brazilian Pellegrini wants to bring to West Ham, though, with Turkish outlet Sporx claiming the Irons want Fenerbache central midfielder Josef de Souza.
According to Sporx West Ham have had a £10.5million bid rejected for the Brazilian defensive midfielder who has been likened to Manchester City star and fellow Brazilian Fernandinho.
The report claims West Ham could return with a bigger bid for the 29-year-old, who has enjoyed an excellent season for Fenerbache, playing an instrumental role in the club’s title challenge which ultimately saw his side finish second – just three points behind champions Galatasaray.
But what do we know about Josef, here’s the full lowdown on West Ham’s third Brazilian target of the summer.
Pedigree
Josef has pedigree having played for top clubs in Brazil in the shape of Vasco da Gama, Gremio and Sao Paulo as well as Portuguese giants Porto and more recently Fenerbache.
He is also a Brazil international having featured several times for the Under 20s and three times for the senior team.
Honours
Josef has won plenty of silverware in his career with eight trophies to his name and also earned a place in the Brazil Serie A team of the season back in 2014.
The most prolific spell of his career came at Porto where he won the league twice and the Europa League.
Vital statistics
The central midfielder is over 6ft tall, aged 29 and right-footed. He has been purchased for a total £9.6 million during his career so far and could be a cheaper alternative for the Hammers to other central midfield targets like William Carvalho.
For a holding midfielder Josef doesn’t have a bad goalscoring record with 23 goals from 335 games.
Short-term fix
One feature of Josef’s career so far has been that he doesn’t tend to stick around at clubs for too long. The longest he has stayed at a single club has been two years although he is entering his third year at Fener.
It could be Pellegrini sees him as a player who can come in and do a job for a season or two and add much needed experience to West Ham’s midfield.
Competition?
He has been linked with newly-promoted Wolves who – given their connections to super agent Jorge Mendes – tend to target high quality players.
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