According to reports in The Telegraph, West Ham United have launched a club-record £27.1m bid for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho.

The Telegraph says that Irons officials have been in the Portuguese capital for the last week or so trying to strike a deal for the highly-rated 24-year-old, who was a key part of the Portugal team that won the 2016 European Championships.

The report adds that Sporting want to get £36.1m for one of their star men, but they are aware that he wants to play in the Premier League – something the Hammers look to be using to their advantage following their opening offer.

Meanwhile, Irons midfielder Pedro Obiang came third in the club’s Player of the Season award last time out and signed a new five-year deal last month, but he could be worried by the potential arrival of the Portugal international at the London Stadium.

Here are three reasons West Ham signing Carvalho would be bad news for Obiang…

Competition

While Obiang only really has Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate and Edimilson Fernandes as his main competition in the middle of the park right now, if West Ham brought in William Carvalho it would certainly change things.

The Portugal international would be a huge signing for the club and would be an automatic starter, meaning that the aforementioned trio would be fighting for one spot in the centre of the pitch unless Slaven Bilic is planning for a change of formation.

Being club captain, Noble would expect to get his fair share of minutes on the field, Kouyate has quickly become one of the Irons’ most important players since joining the club and Fernandes is a promising young talent.

Obiang was an impressive performer last season, but he could find game time harder to come considering the team will only be competing in the Premier League and domestic cups.

Tactics

West Ham were often overrun in midfield last season and the signing of Carvalho suggests that Slaven Bilic is ready to tighten things up in the centre of the park after the conceded 64 goals in 38 Premier League matches.

The 24-year-old is an out-and-out defensive midfielder who is good at winning the wall back and distributing it, and the Croatian may feel that a partnership of two imposing figures in the Portugal international and Kouyate protecting the defence should make them harder to break down in the upcoming campaign.

The past

While he was a regular in the West Ham side last term before suffering a season-ending against Leicester City in March, the same can’t be said for his first campaign with the Irons following a move from Sampdoria.

The Spaniard struggled to become a consistent starter under Slaven Bilic and played just 1,078 minutes across 24 Premier League appearances.

The fact that the Croatian boss obviously wasn’t too sold on the 25-year-old could be a cause for concern for Obiang if Carvalho does move to the London Stadium, as he could easily be the central midfielder that drops down to the substitutes’ bench.

Do you agree, Irons fans? Let us know below.