West Ham United have practically agreed a deal to sign Real defender Luiz Felipe this week, despite no written offer being submitted by the Hammers, according to El Desmarque.
The Spanish publication state that as of July 18, Betis are yet to receive an official written offer for the Italian defender, despite an expectation that this should’ve happened days ago.
There was a belief that David Moyes’ side were waiting for the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal to be confirmed before submitting any formal offer for the 26-year-old, but since that deal was announced on Sunday, there has still been no movement in the deal for Felipe.
Felipe is reportedly keen on the move, with a suggestion that it would see his contract greatly improved, while the transfer fee paid to Betis would be too good to turn down.
But Moyes wanted as many new signings as possible at his first training camp in Australia, causing some to worry the deal may stall and collapse, especially with reports linking the Irons to Manchester United’s Harry Maguire.
A quick glance at Felipe’s career so far shows why this is a deal that has some West Ham fans excited, spells with Lazio and Betis as well as youth caps with the Brazil national team and an Italy debut in March of this year.
But Moyes is known to be a big admirer of Maguire and as links continue to grow between him and the Hammers, it feels likely a move to the capital could be on the cards and could well explain the break in talks between Betis and West Ham.
The Irons have a reasonable amount of depth in their backline already and with Rice’s departure, adding to their midfield options seems a much more required approach than signing two new central defenders.
What may swing the pendulum back in the way of Felipe, is that even if he expects to achieve better wages with a move to East London, he is still likely the cheaper option than Maguire, who still has two years left to run on his rather expensive Manchester United deal.
