West Ham hoping to outmuscle Spurs for teenage Basel star
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Slaven Bilic has already made three signings since taking over at West Ham, but should he manage to beat Spurs to his intended fourth, it would arguably be his best.
The Croatian tactician, who took charge of his first competitive match for the Hammers last week, is keen to land Basel 18-year-old Breel Embolo, but has to battle both Tottenham and West Brom for the player’s signature.
The Cameroon-born Swiss is a well regarded talent in the Super League and scored 10 goals with seven assists for Basel in the division this past season.
Those exploits, along with Champions League goals and 17 all-competition strikes in the 2014/15 campaign have attracted the interest of all three Premier League clubs.
It’s Bilic’s boys that are thought to be in the driving seat for any deal, with the £10m-rated forward more likely to warrant a place in the Hammers’ first team over their London rivals’.
Admittedly, the Baggies could offer a direct route to the starting XI too, but the draw of London and the fact that Ladbrokes make the Upton Park club 11/8 to finish in the top 10 to the Baggies’ 7/2 price puts them ahead.
Another positive in West Ham’s favour is that Spurs have a number of young strikers on their shopping list this summer. Mauricio Pochettino is reportedly keen on both Anthony Martial of Monaco and Timo Werner, so may be happy to defer on Embolo in favour of one of those two.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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