According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Nikola Milenkovic will join West Ham if a meeting at lunchtime today goes smoothly.
What’s the story?
Well, Fiorentina met with Fali Ramadani at lunchtime earlier today, the agent of former Manchester City centre-back Matija Nastasić.
Should all go well, the Schalke 04 centre-back will join Fiorentina, giving Milenkovic the green light to join West Ham.
Di Marzio – a respected Italian journalist – is effectively claiming that West Ham’s hopes of signing the Serbian depend on Fiorentina agreeing a deal with Nastasić.
Seeing as that’s out of their hands, it will be a nervy wait for the east Londoners until they discover the outcome of the meeting.
The Irons are said to be close to signing the £25,000-a-week colossus after David Moyes pushed hard for his services.
In our view, this is the final hurdle.
What if West Ham’s Milenkovic hopes collapse?
If Fiorentina can’t agree a deal with Nastasić, who else could the Hammers turn to?
Well, West Ham were said to be happy to pay Chelsea £20m to sign Kurt Zouma.
However, the deal fell apart after the Blues demanded £30m.
In our view, should the Milenkovic deal fail, the Frenchman could be someone they turn to again as a Plan B.
Additionally, West Ham have shown interest in Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, so he’s another who could be an alternative to Milenkovic.
Keep an eye on this saga, as significant progress could be made today.
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