West Ham officials monitor Raul Jimenez during training
West Ham United officials have watched Benfica striker Raul Jimenez during a training session as the London club ponder a move for the Mexican striker to partner Javier Hernandez, according to a report from Sport Witness.
Benfica opened their training session at St George’s Park to English clubs and the Hammers had representatives there who were reportedly keeping a close eye on Jimenez as manager Slaven Bilic is looking for a striker to partner new striker Hernandez.
Benfica are keen to offload the Mexican forward as he only has one year remaining on his contract with the Portuguese club, but they have slapped a whooping €40m price tag on the striker.
Benfica signed Jimenez from Spanish La Liga club Atletico Madrid for €10m and the striker has won back-to-back Portuguese league titles in his two seasons with the club.
Jimenez was impressive during this summer’s Confederations Cup as he netted against New Zealand.
The Hammers are still considering whether to make a move for the player, but with Benfica placing such a high price tag on him, it could mean that Bilic eyes other targets.
The forward only started nine games last season for Benfica and the club are hoping to recoup almost quadruple the amount which they paid to secure his services, which on the face of things, looks a bit far-fetched to say the least.