West Ham United seem to have tied up a transfer for Sao Paulo defender Luizao…
What’s the most recent?
That’s in keeping with Sky Sports activities reporter Dharmesh Sheth, who claims that the Brazilian has undergone a medical and can signal for the Premier League membership subsequent month.
He informed GIVEMESPORT: “It was confirmed to me that this one is pretty much as good as accomplished. Luizao will take part January on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
“However he’s seen, at 20 years outdated, as in all probability one for the longer term. Versus going straight into the first-team squad, I feel he’s going to develop first within the under-21s at West Ham.
“There’s quite a lot of fact in that and he has had a medical already with West Ham. He’s set to hitch in January.”
The brand new Zabaleta
This transfer might draw comparisons with the successes that West Ham had with one other South American defender, as they signed Pablo Zabaleta in 2017 when he entered the twilight of his profession.
The primary distinction on this state of affairs is that the longer term stays extremely vibrant for Luizao, who can nonetheless be moulded into no matter form of defender David Moyes needs.
He would come to the London Stadium as a “highly rated” centre-back, as dubbed by Toby Cudworth, and the sky is the restrict for the 20-year-old starlet, who has impressed in his breakout yr for Sao Paulo.
Boasting a 6.79 common score, he has averaged one sort out and a mammoth 3.8 clearances per sport, alongside an 88% cross accuracy (through Sofascore).
His defence-first mentality might liken him to Zabaleta, who joined West Ham five-and-a-half years in the past and went on to function 80 occasions for the Irons.
His debut season on the London Stadium was really much less spectacular than the Brazilian’s present marketing campaign, because the Argentine solely acquired a 6.74 score from Sofascore regardless of impressing defensively.
On the very least, the Manchester City legend would all the time provide a stable presence down the best flank for West Ham, outlined in his match averages of 1.6 interceptions, 2.6 tackles and three.4 clearances in 2017/18 (through Sofascore).
With each of those gamers focusing their sport round solidity, plainly the Hammers might be set to repeat the successes of the previous by signing a participant who’s very a lot for the longer term.
Ought to Luizao start with the primary staff?
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Luizao has additionally been labelled “super confident”, and with the best steering this might be channelled into an unprecedented capacity on the ball which might even surpass Zabaleta, who won two Premier League titles on the Etihad Stadium.
Assuming there aren’t any late hitches, this transfer could be an enormous assertion of intent from Moyes, who will look to the instance set by the 37-year-old Argentina because the benchmark for the younger Brazilian, who now appears destined for east London.