David Moyes enjoyed a narrow escape this summer with West Ham United failing to sign Sporting CP forward Jovane Cabral.
What’s the word?
According to O Jogo, Sporting have informed Cabral’s representatives that they intend to sit down and discuss a new contract for the 22-year-old, after promising one of their most valuable assets of an extension if the attacker stayed in Lisbon this summer.
Cabral was widely linked with a move away from the Jose Alvalade Stadium by the Portuguese media this year, with A Bola claiming in September that West Ham were rivalling Fulham and an unnamed English side but that each had seen offers rebuffed.
Hertha Berlin, another Italian side and Tottenham Hotspur were also positioning themselves for advances, however no bid ever met the green and whites’ €35million (£31.5m) valuation or their request of €20m (£18m) plus bonuses and a future sell-on clause.
Though West Ham refusing to meet Sporting’s demands now appears to have been the right decision, given Cabral has only created one big chance to score and produced 0.6 shots per game over five appearances since the 2020/21 Liga NOS season began, per SofaScore.
Narrow escape
As well as offering little creativity with an average of 0.8 key balls and zero accurate crosses, Cabral has only recorded 0.6 successful dribbles, 6.6 accurate passes in the opposition half, won 1.4 ground duels and has lost possession 6.4 times a game, per SofaScore, ahead of facing Tondela on Sunday night.
His record for the campaign to date offers little evidence to suggest West Ham would have been making the right decision in paying Sporting their lower €20m fee, let alone the full €35m, as the 22-year-old Cape Verde international could have proven an even worse purchase than Felipe Anderson.
The Irons spent a then-club-record £36m to purchase Anderson from Lazio in 2018 but a torrid second campaign from the Brazilian was enough for the east London outfit to sanction a one-year loan with FC Porto, in the hopes he can rediscover his initial form.
Anderson struck ten goals and provided five assists across all competitions during his debut season, but only provided a single goal and five assists during his second year in claret and blue as he eventually fell from the starting line-up under Moyes.
It remains to be seen if Anderson can rediscover his form in Portugal, having so far failed to contribute to the scoring in two Liga NOS outings totalling 49 minutes, but what is clear is that it looks right now as though West Ham dodged a potentially expensive bullet with Cabral.
AND in other news, West Ham can sign the new Nemanja Vidic in a £43.3k-p/w “powerhouse” David Moyes courted this summer.