West Ham United appear to be closing in on the signing of Luis Guilherme, but what does David Sullivan really think of the Brazilian?
The Hammers are set to pay around £20 million up front for the 18-year-old Palmeiras forward, plus £5.5 million in potential add-ons.
Luis Guilherme is extremely close to joining West Ham now, with reports claiming that his medical was due to take place this weekend.
To call the on-again, off-again transfer deal a ‘saga’ doesn’t quite do it justice. It was only four days ago when the deal to bring the Brazilian to the London Stadium was officially on, even after it had apparently ‘collapsed’ two times previously!
Th Brazilian youngster is a special talent, but he has a completely unproven track record of playing at the very highest level for a sustained period of time.
£25.5 million seems like an awful lot of cash to spend for a teenager who has no experience of playing in England, let alone the Premier League.
However, we surely all just have to trust Tim Steidten. The German identified Guilherme as a good signing for new manager Julen Lopetegui.
But what does Hammers co-owner David Sullivan really think of the signing?
What David Sullivan thinks of West Ham signing Luis Guilherme
The West Ham majority shareholder has provided Lopetegui with a transfer budget of around £90 million this summer, not including any potential player sales.
And it’s Steidten’s job to identify targets for the Spaniard.
The German has spent plenty of time out in Brazil recently, scouting potential new signings for the Hammers.
First it was Fabricio Bruno who Steidten wanted – a centre-back playing for Flamengo. A deal to sign the 28-year-old collapsed though after his wage demands increased at the last minute.
The Guilherme deal seems like it should go through without any complications like that.
Is every senior figure at the London Stadium on board with the deal to bring the young Brazilian to East London though?
Sean Whetstone took to his official X account to share what Sullivan and Lopetegui really think of Steidten’s latest transfer pick:
“Everything in place for West Ham to sign Brazilian winger Luis Guilherme from Palmeira next week”, Whetstone posted on X.
“Initial fee of £19.5m plus £6m in potential add-ons with a 20% sell on clause based only on profit.”
He concluded b. saying, “The 18 year old is a Tim Steidten pick which has the full backing of the board and head coach Julen Lopetegui.”
That’s great to hear but in truth, I don’t expect anything else.
With our new, more continental approach to transfers, Steidten is the man who finds the players, Lopetegui decides which ones he wants and the Sullivan will make the decision on how much he’s willing to pay for them.
I don’t think there will be a situation at West Ham whereby Lopetegui is forced to play someone who he doesn’t actually want.
Luis Guilherme is seemingly a player who has got the approval of everyone at West Ham, and that’s exactly what we want to see.
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