West Ham close in on club record deal for William Carvalho

William Carvalho
William Carvalho will add legs and bite to West Ham's midield Credit: AP

West Ham United are hoping to secure the club record signing of William Carvalho, for a fee of up to £36million, by the end of this week.

No fee has yet been agreed but sources suggest that a breakthrough can be expected following the first leg of Sporting Lisbon’s Champions League play-off against Steaua Bucharest at home on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old midfielder is suspended for the fixture – he was not left out of the squad because of negotiations - but Sporting want to get the first leg out of the way before concluding negotiations with West Ham.

It has helped West Ham’s cause that Carvalho has pushed for the deal with the Portuguese international reasoning that it is time to further his career by moving abroad.

Sporting have been holding out for 40million euros (£36million) for Carvalho and have rejected a bid of 30million euros (£27.2million) from West Ham last week but it is believed that since then talks have progressed and a deal can be structured to please all parties.

Carvalho is regarded as the final piece of the jigsaw for West Ham manager Slaven Bilic who has overhauled his squad this summer with a number of experienced signings including a club record deal for Marko Arnautovic who arrived from Stoke City for a fee of up to £24million. The Carvalho deal will eclipse that.

West Ham have worked hard to secure Carvalho who has, previously, been strongly linked to a number of Premier League clubs including Arsenal. If he signed it will be something of a coup.

The club have had a representative in Lisbon for more than a week working on the transfer with Carvalho having recently switched agents, working with Pere Guardiola, the brother of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, with a view to finally leaving Sporting where he has been for a number of years.

Having already signed Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, for a £16million fee, Pablo Zabaleta and, on a season-long loan, goalkeeper Joe Hart then Bilic regards the his potential latest recruit as the controlling midfielder for his side.

West Ham lost their opening league game of the season, defeated 4-0 away to Manchester United, but the interest in Carvalho pre-dates that disappointing result.

If he is signed then West Ham will have to also balance their books. Sofiane Feghouli is already set to join Turkish side Galatasaray and West Ham are expected to listen to offers for Robert Snodgrass who only joined the club for £10.2million from Hull City last January. Further departures are expected as Bilic re-balances his squad.

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