West Ham defender Fabian Balbuena received a ‘juicy proposal’ from an unnamed Arabian club in January, according to the player’s agent Renato Bittar, who was speaking to Futgol of Universo 970 AM [via Versus].
Balbuena expressed his desire to stay in Europe and, as such the Paraguayan international remained with the Hammers beyond Monday night’s transfer deadline, with his agent claiming: “We had a very juicy Arab soccer proposal and Fabian told me: ‘Let’s wait, let’s stay in Europe’.”
The 29-year-old was a mainstay in David Moyes’ selection process in the early weeks of the season, but has recently found himself either on the periphery of matters due to injury and isolation.
The centre-back was never likely to be allowed to leave the club on deadline day following Winston Reid’s loan departure to Brentford. However, speculation regarding the 14-cap central defender has increased of late, with Lazio rumoured to be interested, a link which Bittar was keen to downplay.
There will need to be a resolution regarding Balbuena sooner rather than later, with his contract expiring at the end of the current campaign.
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David Moyes has seemingly dropped Balbuena from his plans despite doing very little wrong in the early weeks of the season.
The former Corinthians defender was a victim of missing games through injury and not being able to regain his place, having been usurped by the undroppable performances of Craig Dawson.
Valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, losing Balbuena for free in the summer would be a blow to the coffers of the club, while also seeing them shorn of a defender who has served the Irons well in 52 Premier League appearances to date.
