West Ham United should ditch William Carvalho and focus on Raul Jimenez.
West Ham United received something of a boost by news from Portuguese outlet Record which claimed that Benfica forward Raul Jimenez wants a Premier League move.
The Irons, along with Everton, have been linked with a move for the 26-year-old, whose release clause in the Portuguese capital is a whopping £45.8 million.
West Ham have been linked with two defensive midfielders in the form of William Carvalho and Grzegorz Krychowiak, both of whom would cost big bucks – especially the former – but the Hammers should spend the rest of their summer budget on Jimenez.
According to The Sun, Slaven Bilic is “confident” that he will tie up a £34 million deal for Sporting Lisbon star Carvalho, but do they need a defensive midfielder more than a striker?
Cheikhou Kouyate and Pedro Obiang are both excellent but one of them will have to drop out of West Ham’s first XI to accomodate the arrival of Carvalho.
Plus, it doesn’t speak volumes for Reece Oxford’s long-term future at the club if the 18-year-old – now on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach – sees Carvalho coming in.
Up front, however, is a different story. We’re only two weeks into the season and already it seems like if Javier Hernandez – a £16 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen – doesn’t score then Bilic’s side will struggle to find the back of the net.
The Mexico international, a team-mate of Jimenez, scored twice in the 3-2 defeat at Southampton on the weekend but he needs somebody to share the goalscoring burden – Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew won’t do.
Signing another top-class striker is more important for the Irons this season than yet another top-class midfielder.
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