West Ham Should Sign Andre Silva

Jun 8, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Nike soccer balls lay on the field prior to the group play stage of the 2016 Copa America Centenario between the Brazil and Haiti at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 8, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Nike soccer balls lay on the field prior to the group play stage of the 2016 Copa America Centenario between the Brazil and Haiti at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

West Ham should do whatever is necessary to sign young Porto sensation Andre Silva.

Silva is one of the hottest young prospects in Europe right now and his skill set is precisely what the Hammers need. As we’ve discussed in a limitless amount of articles at this point the thing that West Ham are screaming out for now is goals. The team simply doesn’t score enough and if you don’t score goals you don’t win games and that’s just not good enough for the level that the club are trying to reach.

Andre Silva would be a perfect signing for West Ham. His signing would be many things. It would be useful on the field, a good statement of intent off it and a piece of business that could prove ever so useful in the always active transfer market.

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Silva is 21 years old and enjoying a wonderful season at Porto so far. Porto are an excellent club for breeding players and should never be overlooked. After all the list of great players to come out of Porto is extensive.

Who is he?

He has made his debut for Portugal this year following his 15 goals so far for Porto in 26 appearances. That’s more than a goal every other game which is a phenomenal return for such a young player. Real Madrid are reportedly preparing an extensive 58 million pound offer for the player in the summer.

Arsenal had a bid of 20 million turned down as well. Someplace in the middle should be the sweet spot for Porto. As well as those other clubs Silva is reportedly also being watched by Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, and Manchester United.

If West Ham are serious about being one of the big boys then they’ll need to take chances like this. They’ll need to put up someplace between 32-40 million pounds to make this happen. They shouldn’t undersell themselves either.  Sure he’s being linked with other bigger clubs but that might not necessarily be best for his career.  That aside West Ham is a wonderful place to play and London a magnificent place to live.

It’d be better to spend the time playing at West Ham then sitting on the bench rusting in Spain or Germany. Silva will have a starting job immediately in a league where he will get legitimate exposure. If he’s excellent and turns out to be a 20-30 goal a year striker at Premier League level there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t be moved on for at least 65 million 3-5 years down the line.

Next: Why we can learn from Spurs

West Ham need to think big if they want to be big and Silva is one of those signings that really shows people you mean business.