West Ham United's deal to sign Portuguese international Joao Palhinha from Fulham has "every chance" to get done this summer, claims journalist Alex Crook.
Is Joao Palhinha joining West Ham United?
The Hammers are yet to sign a single player this summer but have already been one of the leading players in arguably the summer's biggest transfer saga, the deal to sell Declan Rice to Arsenal.
Whilst the club would likely have preferred not to lose their talismanic captain, the record £105m should help soften the blow somewhat.
With all that money burning a hole in their pockets, the Irons have turned their attention to signing players, with Fulham's one-man midfield, Palhinha, looking like their primary target.
The 28-year-old joined the Cottagers last summer and has quickly established himself as one of the Premier League's best midfielders and, with that, one of the most sought-after.
According to football reporter Jack Rosser, the east Londoners made an opening bid for the Lisbon-born dynamo worth £40m on July 16, a bid that was swiftly rejected, with talks set to continue.
West Ham are also considering Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez and Southampton star James Ward Prowse, but the Fulham man remains their "top target", per journalist Alex Crook.
He explained the situation live on air, which was posted to TalkSPORT's YouTube channel:
"This is a worry for Fulham if they do lose him. £40m would very much be the starting figure, and obviously, Fulham will work upwards, but I was told yesterday [Sunday] that there is every chance that this deal gets done.
"Edson Alvarez, another player at Ajax, he's also on their list, so to James Warde Prowse, but as you say, I think at the moment, Palhinha is very much a top target."
How good is Joao Palhinha?
There is no getting around the fact that Palhinha is an excellent player, and when it comes to his specific role in the centre of midfield, he was viewed as one of the more impressive in the Premier League.
The 6 foot 3 titan is a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the park, and there is not a single player in Europe's top five leagues that can compete with him when it comes to making tackles.
That's right, Palhinha was Europe's top tackler last season, and by quite some way, making 147 tackles across his 35 Premier League appearances, and it was this quality that led to teammate Harrison Reed describing him as a "tackling machine" earlier this year.
His underlying statistics just further hammer home how elite he is in his role, with FBref, who compare players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, placing him in the top 1% for tackles, the top 8% for aerial duals won, the top 12% for clearances, the top 28% for interceptions and the top 29% for blocks, all per 90.
However, he does lack any attacking threat whatsoever, sitting in the bottom 8% for assists, the bottom 7% for progressive passes, the bottom 2% for progressive carries, and the bottom 1% for shot-creating actions, all per 90.
That's not to say that he wouldn't improve the team's attacking output, though, as in March this year, Sky Sports revealed that without Palhinha in the team, Fulham scored one goal a game and took eight shots whilst facing 16. With him in the side, they scored an average of 1.5 goals a game, took 11.9 shots and faced only 13.1.
So, while he may not directly provide the goals, his presence would allow a team to venture further forward, safe in the knowledge that he was ready to snuff out any potential counterattacks.
If West Ham can get this deal done for anything close to £40m, it could be one of the very best deals of the summer and go a long way in easing the transition away from Rice.