Crystal Palace and Brighton missed out on Moussa Marega on deadline day but will West Ham now join the chase?
The three Portuguese giants are not exactly renowned for letting their star players leave on the cheap so perhaps it is no surprise that Porto rejected offers of just £9 million from Crystal Palace and Brighton on deadline day for striker Moussa Marega, per The Sun.
Considering that Brighton did not score in either of their first three league fixtures, and Palace have set a record after failing to find the net in their first five, the failure to land Marega could come back to haunt them. And you wonder whether there may be a new competitor in the race for a forward who has already scored four goals in five games for Porto in 2017/18.
Energetic midfielder Danilo Pereira (below), a possible alternative to failed summer target William Carvalho, is understood to be the reason for their visit but their scouts surely will have had positive things to say about the Portuguese international’s 26-year-old team-mate.
Marega scored the clinching goal in the 67th minute and has taken to life back at Porto like a duck to water after an impressive loan spell at Vitoria Guimaraes last season, which comprised of 13 goals in 23 league fixtures.
West Ham have also struggled for goals in the early weeks of the season, scoring in just two of their first five games, and manager Slaven Bilic has admitted that he has no idea how to mould Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez into an effective strike partnership.
However, long-running Premier League target Marega is a man in form and might have given the Hammers scouts something to think about.
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