Aston Villa and West Ham interested in £68m-rated Portuguese international

Aston Villa and West Ham United are both interested in signing Sporting CP star Pedro Goncalves, according to A Bola. This comes after a £25.5 million bid from Bayer Leverkusen was rejected by the Portuguese club.

The winger, with two caps for Portugal, has caught the attention of numerous clubs throughout Europe due to his impressive performance this season, tallying nine goals and 10 assists in 24 league games, along with three goals and two assists in the Europa League.

As per the Portuguese news outlet, Goncalves has a release clause of £68.4 million. Sporting will reject any bid that is less than £35 million.

West Ham to sign Pedro Goncalves in the summer transfer window?

Considering Goncalves’ impressive goals and assists statistics this season, his potential arrival at the London Stadium would indeed be thrilling to see in the Premier League.

Yet, the presence of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, and Mohammed Kudus in the front three implies that a new creative forward might not be essential, with the focus possibly shifting towards prioritising a striker for the recruitment team this summer. However, one notable weakness at West Ham is their lack of depth in all areas, something that must be addressed this summer if they are to kick on and improve.

Another target could be Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface; a potential summer signing for the Hammers. Reports have previously linked West Ham to the striker.

Aston Villa priced out of summer move for Sporting CP star

Given Villa’s current financial predicament it would be a very difficult move for them to pull off signing Goncalves for his £68.4 million release clause. The Villans have reported losses of just under £120 million, with the maximum you can lose being at £105 million. It is likely Villa will have to sell a big-time player this summer in order to escape punishment.