Having already failed to land Alexandre Lacazette and Michy Batshuayi in their search for a new striker, West Ham’s hopes of signing Carlos Bacca now seem to be receding as well.
Arsenal and Atletico Madrid have entered the race for the Colombian marksman according to the Evening Standard, with both clubs able to offer him the Champions League football he is on record as saying he craves.
If the Irons are to be thwarted in their pursuit of Bacca, then it would be ideal from their perspective if the 29-year-old chose Madrid over north London.
The arrival of the AC Milan striker at Vicente Calderon would likely convince Los Colchoneros to sell Borja Baston, who might just be the treasure at the end of Slaven Bilic’s striker search.
Despite being an Atelti player, the 23-year-old has spent the last five seasons out on loan becoming slowly more and more prolific.
He struck 22 goals in 39 Segunda games for Deportivo La Coruna in 2014/15 and took the step up to Primera Division level in his stride when banging in 18 strikes for newly promoted Eibar last term.
Before the Basque-country side’s form tailed off in the second half of the season he had registered 15 times in his first 21 league games.
As the figurehead of a more creative side (he averaged just 2.6 shots per game) such a prolific finisher could potentially run amok.
West Ham can certainly count themselves as a team of that ilk, having added Sofiane Feghouli to a supply line that had already boasted Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini.
According to Marca, Atletico are keen to cash in on the player, who is entering the last year of his contract and would be willing to sell for a fee in the region of €15m.
The Irons are 9/2 to win their first Premier League match of the season, when they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.
