West Ham Looking At Inter Milan Midfielder
West Ham have reportedly identified a player that they could try and sign to improve options in the centre of the pitch.
Italian outlet Calcio Mercato has reported that West Ham are interested in Inter Milan’s Matias Vecino. The Uruguayan could be available on a loan-to-buy deal as he has fallen out of favour at the Nerazzurri.
Inter Milan signed Vecino from Fiorentina for over £20 million. While the move has not been a complete success, the midfielder is still a competitive player. Vecino has plenty of experience at the top level of football with his club’s in Serie A and at international level.
Vecino has played ninety-six times for Milan and contributed to seventeen goals, scoring eleven and assisting six. The 29-year-old can play as a box-to-box midfielder, similar to Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek.
The midfielder has also performed well for the Uruguayan national side. Vecino has been capped forty-one times by Uraguay, scoring on three occasions.
West Ham are in need of a new central midfielder to challenge Soucek and Rice. There is a distinct lack of depth in the position, only Mark Noble can play in the position. Noble, however, is approaching the end of his career and does not have the quality he needs to be a suitable replacement.
It is unlikely that Vecino would displace either of Rice or Soucek in the first-team. What the Uruguayan would provide is another option for David Moyes in the midfield. Vecino can play across the midfield as an attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder and even as right-midfielder.
The Hammers will have some competition to sign the utility midfielder from Premier League rivals Aston Villa, but if successful they could pick up a quality addition. There are of course the other rumours that the club are unlikely to make any additions this January. It is more than likely those rumours are a negotiation tactic to lower the asking price for targets.
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Vecino is not the only name that have been linked with the club in recent weeks. Former teammates of Soucek, Alex Kral and Abdallah Sima, have been linked to the club during the build-up to the winter transfer window.