The Premier League duo’s alleged hopes of signing Balde may have suffered a fatal blow following the 23-year-old’s two-goal masterclass against Frosinone.
Prior to Saturday evening, Keita Balde’s spell at Inter Milan looked like it was not going to plan.
The Senegal forward, on loan at San Siro from Monaco, had failed to score in 11 Serie A appearances for Luciano Spalletti’s side.
Several reports surfaced in midweek suggesting that Inter were thinking about cutting short Balde’s loan spell in January.
Italian website Tuttomercatoweb claimed on Wednesday that Wolverhampton Wanderers were in the frame to sign the 23-year-old once his time in Milan came to an end.
The following day, the same outlet suggested that West Ham, who reportedly scouted Balde in the summer, were interested in the former Barcelona man once again.
On Saturday evening, however, Balde’s spell at Inter may have just exploded into life and ended speculation about his immediate future in one fell swoop.
Balde opened the scoring in the 10th minute by turning Francesco Zampano inside out twice before rifling underneath goalkeeper Marco Sportiello from 12 yards out.
The former Lazio man then claimed an assist just before the hour when his left-wing cross was headed home by Lautaro Martinez.
There was more to come from Balde as he wrapped up the scoring nine minutes from time, latching on to Matteo Politano’s through-ball to strike into the far bottom corner of the net.
Following Inter’s 3-0 win – with Balde playing a part in all three goals – Twitter lit up with praise for a striker that, up until a few hours earlier, had been effectively written off by some sections of the press:
Needless to say, the prospects of Wolves and West Ham signing Balde in January have diminished – it may just be that the former La Masia man will not be going anywhere now he’s shown what he’s capable of in the black and blue stripes.
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