Hammers want Portuguese to replace the departing Maiga in the capital next season.
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West Ham United are considering making a £3 million move for Besiktas front man Hugo Almeida this summer, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The Hammers are about to let misfiring striker Modibo Maiga move to Ligue 1 outfit St Etienne on loan next season, and if that deal goes through as expected then head coach Sam Allardyce will be needing a new attacker to replace the Mali international at Upton Park.
And the man that Allardyce is reportedly targeting is Besiktas’s Portugal international, with Almeida having been made available to purchase by the Turkish giants after having spent the past two-and-a-half campaigns in Istanbul.
Almeida moved to Besiktas from Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen in January 2011 on a three-and-a-half-year deal for a fee of just 2m euros, and in the intervening period the 29-year-old has scored an impressive 31 goals in just 64 matches in total in all competitions for the Turks, including 23 strikes in his 47 league contests for the club.
And Besiktas director of football Onder Ozen said recently: “We need to restructure our wages and negotiate a more reasonable contract deal with him.
“We will consider offers for Almeida, especially if we can’t reach an agreement regarding his wages.”
However with Besiktas set to sign either Jermaine Defoe or Emmanuel Adebayor from Tottenham Hotspur before the summer transfer window closes on Sept 2, it appears as though Almeida could soon be available to buy for West Ham.