West Ham have submitted an opening offer of €20m plus bonuses for Lazio ace Felipe Anderson, reports Gianluca Di Marzio.
New West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini is determined to bolster his offensive options this summer in order to ease the burden on star man Marko Arnautovic.
The need to add greater quality in attack has been made more pressing following news Manuel Lanzini suffered a serious knee injury on international duty with Argentina on Friday.
Anderson, who failed to make Brazil’s squad for the 2018 World Cup, has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League in the past and was once a reported Manchester United target.
Lazio are now willing to cash in on the 25-year-old but West Ham will have to double their offer to have any chance of landing their top transfer target.
Previous West Ham managers have struggled to convince the club’s owners to spend serious money on top transfer targets and the Hammers will have to shatter their club transfer record to sign Anderson.
After overcoming a long-term injury midway through last season, Anderson failed to win back his place in the Lazio starting XI. In fact, of Anderson’s 21 appearances in Serie A, only nine were as a starter.
Despite a lack of regular playing time, Anderson still weighed in with 11 goals for Lazio (four goals, seven assists) and would certainly add quality to West Ham’s attack.
Of players that made at least 15 appearances in Serie A last season, Anderson required the fewest minutes per successful dribble (1 every 14.8 minutes of action).
