Aston Villa and West Ham United are reportedly keen on Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinic.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere Dello Sport, Aston Villa and West Ham United are interested in signing Fiorentina attacker Nikola Kalinic – but the striker wants to stay in Florence.
Kalinic, 28, may be a familiar name to some Premier League fans having scored just 13 goals in 53 games for Blackburn Rovers, before heading to Ukraine with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 2011.
Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinic
The striker has since moved on to Italy with Fiorentina, and his record of 25 goals in 65 games has seen him become a key player for Paulo Sousa’s side since his 2015 transfer.
Kalinic’s form has unsurprisingly triggered interest though, and Corriere Dello Sport report that whilst Tianjin Quanjian – managed by Italian hero Fabo Cannavaro – want to lure Kalinic to China, he intends to stay with Fiorentina.
Croatia’s Nikola Kalinic celebrates scoring
It’s added that Kalinic has also been the subject of English interest, as it’s stated that Aston Villa and West Ham United were both keen to land him ahead of the January transfer window.
A move to Aston Villa seems unlikely given that manager Steve Bruce has a host of attackers at his disposal, with Jonathan Kodjia, Jordan Ayew, Ross McCormack, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Rudy Gestede all available.
However, interest from West Ham certainly makes more sense; Hammers boss Slaven Bilic handed him his international debut with Croatia in 2008, and it’s been well documented that West Ham need a striker given the struggles of summer signings of Jonathan Calleri and Simone Zaza.
Kalinic fits the bill, but with a €50million (£42.5million) release clause and the striker wanting to stay with Fiorentina, it seems that he won’t be heading to England any time soon, meaning West Ham may have to look elsewhere for a new striker in January.
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