According to Sport1 in Israel, West Ham United are interested in signing Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Dor Peretz at the end of his contract this summer.
It’s stated that CSKA Moscow are leading the race for Peretz, and have made an ‘impressive financial offer’ of €1million a year, which works out to almost £17,000-a-week.
West Ham are thought to be very interested too, but Peretz is delaying a decision until the end of the season and until he has a meeting with Maccabi.
Maccabi still have three games left this season, meaning West Ham may have to wait a few weeks to find out whether Peretz is keen to move.
Peretz, 26, is primarily a defensive midfield player, but has chipped in with 10 goals and nine assists in a superb campaign this term.
With 20 caps for Israel – where then-boss Andi Herzog suggested that the midfielder ‘belongs at the top’ – Peretz has international experience too, and could be seen as a low-cost option to support Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek in midfield.
If Peretz joins the Hammers, he would be following in the footsteps of fellow Israelis Yossi Benayoun, Eyal Berkovic, Yaniv Katan and Tal Ben Haim in playing for the Hammers.
If Peretz can make the kind of impact Benayoun had, he would be quite the signing – and given that his contract expires this summer, he could be an absolute bargain.
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