West Ham striker Enner Valencia has agreed terms to a season-long loan switch to Serie A side Lazio, according to reputable Italian journalist Gianluca di Marzio.
Following two indifferent seasons scoring just 10 goals in 61 appearances for West Ham after his £12m move from Mexican side Pachuca in the summer of 2014, Valencia has been a likely candidate to exit the club before the start of the summer.
With the Hammers seemingly closing in on the signings of Gokhan Tore and Carlos Bacca from Besiktas and AC Milan respectively, competition for the attacking positions in Slaven Bilic’s side will become much more contested and someone’s got to make way.
The Ecuadorian forward has seemingly come to terms with the fact that his time at West Ham is all but over, and has agreed in principle to a move to Lazio.
The Hammers met with representatives of the Serie A side today to discuss a possible transfer for the 26-year-old striker, with Lazio eager for a loan move but the Hammers erring on the side of a permanent switch.
Incoming Lazio manager Marcelo Bielsa is a fan of Valencia’s and the club are hopeful of getting a deal done by Friday. By then, the Hammers are expected to have announced the capture of Gokhan Tore from Besiktas on an initial season-long loan deal.
It’s understood that the current deal on the table for Valencia is a season-long loan move for a fee of €2m, which includes a fixed, mandatory purchase option next summer for €13m, bringing the total value of the deal to €15m, approximately £12.6m which is near enough what the Hammers paid for the striker.
However, the Hammers want a straight up €15m sale to fund moves this summer, but seeing as now Valencia has given the green light on his part for the move to go ahead, perhaps the West Ham decision-makers would be content with allowing this deal to go ahead to get Valencia out of the door.
Connecting the dots, considering the length of time West Ham spent negotiating with Besiktas for Tore and the time taken for the Hammers to find a suitable deal for Valencia, these two deals were always innately linked.
Perhaps West Ham’s switch from a permanent to a loan move for the Turkish winger was contingent on the Hammers only receiving loan offers for Enner Valencia.
Maybe if West Ham and Lazio agreed a permanent transfer for Valencia, the Hammers would’ve been willing to meet the asking price Besiktas set for Gokhan Tore, as the two deals would, in effect, cancel each-other out themselves on the balance sheets.
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