Julen Lopetegui and Tim Steidten are cooking up some sweet Sporting revenge with a West Ham transfer according to a new report.
West Ham and Portuguese champions Sporting – or Sporting Lisbon as they used to be known – have quite the recent history.
Cast your minds back to September 2017 and West Ham were pushing hard to sign Sporting’s central midfielder William Carvalho.
But the long-running transfer saga turned ugly.
It will forever be remembered for a very public spat in which Hammers majority owner David Sullivan was accused of lying and was called a “parasite”.
West Ham responded by pursuing libel action against Sporting’s directors.
But the ultimate insult came when then Sporting’s president at the time, Bruno de Carvalho, labelled Sullivan and then fellow co-owner David Gold ‘the Dildo Brothers’ – a not-so-subtle nod to the pair’s history in the sex industry.
From the Dildo Bros to Amorim
“I’ve had them for almost the whole squad: West Ham supporters call Mr David Sullivan and his brother, the Dildo Brothers…
“These messengers, these offended virgins, the president of West Ham… We must tell the truth!”
To rub salt in the wound West Ham’s then boss Slaven Bilic said he found it funny when asked about the Sporting president’s rant, as reported by The Guardian.
Needless to say Carvalho didn’t sign and six weeks later, with West Ham struggling, Bilic was sacked.
Fast forward seven years to present day, de Carvalho is long gone from Sporting and Sullivan has recently held very public talks with the club’s coveted young manager Ruben Amorim.
The press in Portugal slammed Amorim over the talks and he has since apologised for holding them.
After it became clear Amorim won’t be coming to West Ham, the club has moved on to Julen Lopetegui instead.
Alongside Hammers recruitment chief Tim Steidten, the Spaniard faces a major rebuild of the Premier League’s joint smallest squad. A 22-man squad which is about to get six players lighter as a host of out-of-contract players depart.
Lopetegui’s appointment will not be made official until the end of the season.
But it is being widely reported that he and the technical director are already working on a host of targets to bring to the club this summer.
Lopetegui and Steidten are cooking up some sweet Sporting revenge with a West Ham transfer plan.
Lopetegui and Steidten cooking up sweet Sporting revenge
According to Portuguese outlet Record, West Ham are targeting Sporting’s exciting English attacking midfielder Marcus Edwards.
Not only that but Sporting are willing to sell and have a replacement lined up.
The report also states West Ham are a serious option for the 25-year-old having maintained their longstanding interest.
Better still for Steidten and Lopetegui’s plan, Edwards wants to return to England and play in the Premier League.
The report states there will now be a ‘summit with representatives’ at the end of the season, and the player will decide the best option for his career.
Edwards is extremely versatile and can play across the midfield and forward line.
He has five goals and five assists in 21 starts for Sporting in the league and Europa League this season.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and Edwards is just that
Known for his skill and speed, Enfield-born Edwards would also tick the very important ‘homegrown status’ box for West Ham having started his career with Spurs, which included a loan at Norwich.
Amorim is known to really value what Edwards brings to his team which does not always translate into black and white goals and assists statistics.
One look at football data site WhoScored shows Edwards is a consistently high level performer with a top level career average match rating of 7/10.
If West Ham can take Edwards off Sporting’s hands it may be a measure of revenge after all that’s gone on between the clubs.
They say revenge is a dish best served cold and Edwards is certainly that. You can see for yourself in the video below.