West Ham are allegedly in pole position to sign Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina in the summer transfer window.
That’s according to a report from Corriere Fiorentino (print edition March 28th, page 2) who claim that the Hammers are ‘in first place’ for the 24-year-old centre-back’s signature.
West Ham manager David Moyes desperately needs to bring a top-class central defender to the London Stadium before the start of next season.
Angelo Ogbonna is still out with an ACL injury and will be 34 before the start of the new season. Meanwhile, Craig Dawson will soon be 32 and Issa Diop just isn’t good enough to be playing regular Premier League football.
Moyes must get the centre-back signing spot on this summer.
And it seems as though West Ham are very well placed to make a truly top-class addition.
Corriere Fiorentino claims that the Hammers are in pole position to win the race for the Serbia international ahead of the summer transfer window.
There is one huge caveat though. We must qualify for Europe if Milenkovic is to move to the London Stadium. We have a good chance of doing just that.
We are currently sitting in seventh spot in the Premier League table so a top six finish is well attainable.
Moyes has been chasing Milenkovic for two years now.
And we think that the 24-year-old would be a superb signing for West Ham.
The Serb has been magnificent for La Viola this season. Described as an ‘extraordinary defender’ by x-sport news, Milenkovic is a truly elite centre-back.
In 25 Serie A appearances for Fiorentina this term, the 24-year-old has averaged 1.8 tackles, 1.3 interceptions and three clearances per match. He has also won an average of 3.2 aerial duels per game (Who Scored).
Milenkovic is very comfortable with the ball at his feet as well. During his 22 league outings this season, he has made 60.3 passes on average per game and has recorded an incredibly impressive completion rate of 90.4% (Who Scored).
The Serbian was available for around £13 million in January according to Italian website Calciomercato.it.
What an unbelievable bargain that would have been for West Ham. The prospect of Milenkovic lining up alongside Kurt Zouma should be a seriously exciting one for the Hammers fans.
Whether we can qualify for Europe remains to be seen though.
