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As many sceptical West Ham fans had feared, the 'marquee' signing of William Carvalho from Sporting Lisbon for a club record fee has hit the buffers. Sporting are holding out for their original full price, in addition they are demanding payment in full as opposed to the instalment plan West Ham were offering.

At this point it would be very easy to say "ah the board trying to do things on the cheap again!" Well, what ever way it is viewed, William Carvalho is not a cheap deal, it is quite common for clubs to structure payments over two or even three years but Sporting have a reputation for being tough negotiators and are notoriously difficult to do business with, this is why Arsenal, Tottenham and a host of other Premier League clubs have given up trying to do deals with the Portugese giants.

Recent reports suggest West Ham are ready to switch their attention to Porto midfielder Danilo Pereira as opposed to William Carvalho should negotiations 'hit the wall', Pereira is a 6ft 2in defensive midfielder who was born in Guinea Bissau, he is highly rated and was watched by Arsenal scouts earlier this year, he was part of the same Portugal team that won Euro 2016 last summer.

Benfica’s Serbian midfielder Ljubomir Fejsa is another player in Portugal who has caught the eye of Bilic, known as European football’s ‘Mr Success’, Tottenham were tracking him earlier this summer. Fejsa, 29, has won ten consecutive league titles across three countries since 2008, four with Benfica, three at Olympiacos and three at Partizan.

To many observers it makes no sense at all pursuing one exciting young player and then suddenly making a 'U' turn by going after another player who will have little or no sell on value, make no mistake, European clubs are accutely aware of the amount of money 'sloshing' round the Premier League and are keen to exploit it to the absolute max!

Back to the Carvalho transfer saga, Portugese media still claim the move to West Ham is on, even going as far as to write that Carvalho is said to have a ‘total agreement’ with West Ham, and is expected to sign a five year contract, where he’ll make €2m per season, plus €500k in bonuses. Pere Guardiola, his agent and Pep's brother already told Sporting that the player’s mind is already in London.

The most interesting story comes from Record, who claim Pere Guardiola has met Sporting twice in the past few days, Guardiola spoke first to club president Bruno de Carvalho, and then to directors André Geraldes and Guilherme Pinheiro. Record say Sporting are now demanding €38m as a straight fee and a further €5m in bonuses. Another outlet, O Jogo claims there are two things stopping the deal for now. Firstly, because it’s still not clear who will pay for the agent commissions, and secondly, because Sporting want to make €37m from the sale, that would force West Ham to spend a bit more.

In a recent press conference manager Jorge Jesus was obviously asked about the transfer, and mentioned West Ham’s game against Manchester United which saw Hammers thrashed 4-0. “You either know more than me or… so I don’t have an answer to give you. Still today, he worked with me normally and he isn’t in the squad because he can’t play. We know he’s a wanted player, he has a market value and the team they’re saying… Well, yesterday, I watched their last game and he will have some difficulty (laughs). I don’t have any info from the president saying some club won the race.”

If the deal doesn't get wrapped up soon Hammers will look elsewhere, but for once it won't have been for the lack of trying! - Ed