West Ham lose out to Valencia in Maxi Gomez ‘soap opera’ as East Enders baulk at £45m upfront fee

WEST HAM’S £45million deal to sign Maxi Gomez is off – after the striker decided he wanted to join Valencia instead. The Hammers were prepared to meet the full buy-out clause for the Celta Viga striker as they looked to bring in a top class forward this summer. That looked to have blown Valencia out […]

WEST HAM’S £45million deal to sign Maxi Gomez is off – after the striker decided he wanted to join Valencia instead.

The Hammers were prepared to meet the full buy-out clause for the Celta Viga striker as they looked to bring in a top class forward this summer.

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That looked to have blown Valencia out of the running for the 22-year-old as they were only offering a player-plus-cash deal.

But a lack of willingness on West Ham’s part to pay the whole release clause up front held up the move while attempted to persuade Celta Viga to accept instalments.

That allowed Valencia the opportunity to increase their bid, and the Uruguayan has decided he wants to remain in La Liga instead of moving to the London Stadium.

Valencia have thrown in former Celta forward Santi Mina into the deal as well as a loan for Jorge Saenz to help sweeten the deal.

Once that was agreed by Celta it was left to Gomez to decide on his destination – and staying in Spain was always his preferred option.

The collapse of the deal will come as a major blow to West Ham where Manuel Pellegrini had convinced the club to go all out for his number one target.

The Hammers are desperate to bring in a top class forward this summer having sold Marko Arnautovic this week and allowed Andy Carroll and Lucaz Perez both to leave.

It means Pellegrini only has one recognised out-and-out striker on the books in Javier Hernandez – with just makeshift forward Michail Antonio as the other option.

Another target Salomon Rondon already looks out of reach with the West Brom star set to follow Rafa Benitez to China.

West Ham have been offered the chance to sign Mario Balotelli, who is available on a free transfer after leaving Marseille at the end of last season.

Porto’s Mali international striker Moussa Marega is another they have tracked closely but it was Gomez who was the clear first choice.