West Ham are eyeing a move for Club Brugge midfielder Hans Vanaken.
Recent reports have linked with Belgian attacking midfielder with a surprise switch to the Premier League with David Moyes’ Hammers understood to be the most interested.
However, the Belgian media are not buying the links and are doing all they can to keep the £15m valued playmaker at Club Brugge.
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The latest big-name to urge Vanaken to snub a switch to the English Premier League has been the lead singer of the band ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ (massive in Belgium), Henk Vanhee.
“Here in Bruges, we are ready with the medal for eternal merit as the only, real and rightful successor to Raoul Lambert and Jan Ceulemans,” he said via his column in KW.
“Your painting will soon be displayed on the wall at Basecamp Knokke-Heist, as an example for the young talents, and a statue will be erected at the new Jan Breydel Stadium when, tired of football, you will put away your football boots.
“You will not find this status in the television-fuelled Premier League, Hans. I know West Ham United a little.
“A couple of East Enders characters love it, and there’s a lost European Cup final against the Gulle Gueuze pourers from god-awful Anderlecht.
“London Stadium is no upgrade from the cosy Upton Park of old either, I hear from my friends who regularly pop in and out of England in sympathy with this underdog.
“I wouldn’t do it, Hans. Just go into the Champions League as captain of Club and, together with blue and black, take the next step in the development of the most beautiful team in Belgium. That medal and statue have been reserved.”