West Ham have plenty of work to do in the summer transfer window but fans will be pleased to see that the club is wasting no time in the market.
Under the guidance of new boss Manuel Pellegrini, the Hammers are looking to rejuvenate their defensive ranks and it appears a central defender will be the Chilean’s first acquisition at the London Stadium.
Reports state that West Ham are edging close to securing a deal for Barcelona’s 22-year-old defender Marlon Santos, who has spent the last two seasons on-loan with Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice.
The Hammers are in need of defensive additions following the departure of James Collins, while there’s also uncertainty regarding the future of Winston Reid, but fans are not pretending they know too much about the young Brazilian heading their way.
Sharing their views on Twitter, there was plenty of uncertainty regarding the relatively unknown prodigy.
Not gonna pretend to have any idea if he's any good, but we need a center back and it seems like an ambitious signing. Plus he's still young, which is always a positive. Decent.
— Gianthammer (@NYG_WHU) May 29, 2018
Happy with the deal if it goes through. Looks good signing.
— Steve Hills (@theonlySteveH) May 29, 2018
Nobody has heard of him.
— Steveh’⚒
Happy day's could be a great signing COYFI
— kevthehammersuddell (@kevin_suddell) May 30, 2018
Was horrible with Nice this season…hope he’ll do the job
— baptistee2p (@eltackleador) May 29, 2018
More good than bad ones come from the Barca academy and seems to have a good season in France so here's hoping he's decent
— Ed Ayling (@thatboied) May 29, 2018
No one knew who Reid was before we signed him and before injuries he was solid
— Sam wagstaff (@Hammerwag) May 29, 2018
With Rice and possibly Oxford stepping in for Collins and possibly Reid, I'm not sure why they aren't going for a more experienced player.
— Nathan MacKinnon's Hype Man (@TexasAvs) May 29, 2018
Luis Enrique liked the look of him before he left, seemed to do ok 1st half of the season at Nice so little undecided as don't know too much about him. He is young though so will only get better look strong and athletic so could be a good long term deal
— Mike Hare (@mhare641) May 29, 2018