Fabrizio Romano drops huge January transfer update, West Ham must now act - opinion

West Ham United have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring Arthur Cabral to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.

That’s according to a claim made by Fabrizio Romano, with the transfer insider revealing in a recent post on Twitter that Fiorentina have made an offer totalling £13.5m regarding a deal for the FC Basel centre-forward, with the Serie A side hoping to land the 23-year-old as a direct replacement for Dusan Vlahovic – who looks set on a move to Juventus.

Previous reports had suggested that West Ham were also one of the clubs keeping a very close eye on the situation of the Brazilian ahead of a potential swoop in the winter market, however, it would now appear as if David Moyes could miss out on the striker.

In his tweet, Romano said: “Fiorentina have submitted an opening bid to Basel in order to sign Brazilian striker Arthur Cabral. €14m guaranteed plus €2m bonuses. Arthur Cabral is the main option for Fiorentina in case Dusan Vlahovic deal with Juventus will be completed in the coming hours.”

Considering the fact that West Ham are in desperate need of greater depth at centre-forward, in addition to the fact that Cabral has been in exceptional form for Basel this season, it would appear extremely wise for Moyes to at least launch a matched bid for the 23-year-old in the coming days.

Indeed, over his 18 Swiss Super League outings in the current campaign, the £13.5m-rated hitman has already bagged an astonishing 14 goals, provided four assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 4.2 shots and making 1.2 key passes per game.

These returns have seen Cabral average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.49, ranking the 23-year-old as the second-best