West Ham have been linked with a move for Islam Slimani, who is also wanted by Crystal Palace, Southampton, Everton and Manchester United.
The 28-year-old is coming off the best goalscoring season of his career after he netted 27 goals in 33 Liga NOS games for Sporting last season, and 31 in all competitions.
Slimani is also very prolific at international level, scoring 23 goals in 43 appearances for the Algerian national team – he fits the bill for the 20-goal-a-season striker the Hammers are looking for.
He is tied down to the Portuguese side until the summer of 2020 but has a release clause of €30m which would be a new club-record signing for the Hammers should they bring in Slimani, but it’s not a fee the club would be unable to pay considering the offers being muted for Michy Batshuayi and Alexandre Lacazette.
The Algerian has handed in a transfer request to Sporting in order to force through a move this summer and is believed to be available for between £17-20m, which would make him West Ham’s record transfer right now, depending on if the Hammers ever get the £20m deal to sign Andre Ayew from Swansea over the line.
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