It now finally seems that on August 5th, our Goalkeeper hunt has come to a close as the club has nearly finalised a deal for John Victor, the Brazilian Goalkeeper from Botafogo.
The deal for John Victor has now become apparent after a fee in the region of €10,000,000 (£8.6m) has been agreed, and his cheaper price tag in comparison to our other targets has been deemed 'better value' in comparison to the £25,000,000 asking for Mads Hermansen and the £30,000,000 asking for Zion Suzuki from Parma.
Negativity has spiked up since the interest in the deal due to John not being Potter's, nor the backroom staff's target, and instead being Sullivan's. Once again, fans are forced to endure a 'back-up plan' esc signing and Graham Potter for the second time this window, doesn't get his primary target of choice.
However, in light of this expected signing, it has meant that the Hammers fans and Graham Potter will now be granted the opportunity to bring in a final signing, that being a midfielder and hopefully one of his choices, not Sullivan's.
Though the imminent signature of the Brazilian isn't all doom and gloom! The 29-year-old has some good stats, with his record at Botafogo attracting the interest of Manchester United, Galatasaray and PSG. He's achieved a remarkable 50% clean sheet rate whilst also averaging conceding 0.7 goals per 90, in comparison to Areola's current expected rate of 1.71 goals per 90.
Although the Brazilian has gained these stats from an 'easier league', he also performed to a good level in the Club World Cup and hasn't attracted the named clubs above for no reason.
It's a tough one to get behind, but the truth is, West Ham needed to bring someone in this window to replace/compete with Areola.
Have we just found our key to Victory? Or have we ended up with the Samba de Ro-berto?