Defender Samuel Umtiti has signed a new five-year deal with Barcelona with a £437 million buyout clause and that could be good news for West Ham United.
West Ham co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have pledged to spend more than ever before as they back new boss Manuel Pellegrini in the summer transfer market.
The Hammers have been linked with a host of stars including Ryan Fredericks, Felipe Anderson, Javier Pastore and Jack Butland to name but a few.
But West Ham’s hopes of landing another top target, defender Marlon Santos, could have been boosted after giants Barcelona agreed a five-year contract extension with France international centre-half Samuel Umtiti.
Umtiti had been linked with Manchester United but his contract will now run until the end of the 2022/23 season and has a reported £437 million buyout clause, as reported by the likes of the Independent.
And that could be good news for Pellegrini’s hopes of luring Marlon Santos to East London with the Brazilian’s pathway to any hope of first team football well and truly blocked despite impressive performances during a loan spell with Nice.
Nice are keen to keep Marlon but can’t match West Ham’s £18 million offer according to the Ligue 1 club’s president Jean-Pierre Riviere when he spoke to Nice-Matin.
“Barcelona have received a 20 million euros offer for Marlon, so he should leave OGC Nice,” Riviere told Nice-Matin of Marlon, who started 22 Ligue 1 games last season as Nice finished eighth under the new Dortmund boss Lucian Favre.
That would represent some mark up for Barca after they signed the 22-year-old Hammers target for just £3.5 million last year following an impressive loan spell with the Catalan club from Brazilian side Flumenese.
Pellegrini is reportedly close to bringing in Ryan Fredericks on a free transfer from Fulham as his first signing since taking over at West Ham and will hope Marlon can be his second now Umtiti has sorted his future.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
