West Ham United remain interested in a deal to bring Pablo Maia to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to AndrĂ© Hernan, with the Brazilian journalist revealing in a recent video (via Sport Witness) that, after making an initial offer of a loan deal with an option to buy the defensive midfielder – a proposal which SĂŁo Paulo are said to have rejected – David Moyes is now ‘internally discussing’ launching a bid to sign the 20-year-old on a permanent basis this winter.
The reporter goes on to state that Southampton are also interested in a move for the Brazilian in the coming weeks, while earlier reports also claimed that Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur are two more clubs keeping a very close eye on the situation of the youngster ahead of the January transfer window – with SĂŁo Paulo said to be demanding a âŹ10m (ÂŁ8.7m) fee for the midfielder.
Wonderkid
Considering just how exciting a prospect Maia very much appears to be, the argument that Moyes simply must launch an ÂŁ8.7m offer for the 20-year-old in January is an extremely easy one to make.
Indeed, over his 32 Serie A fixtures in 2022, the ÂŁ4.3m-rated talent was in exceptional form at the back, making an average of 1.3 tackles, 0.7 interceptions, 0.9 clearances and winning 3.3 duels – at a success rate of 51% – per game.
The youngster also impressed when in possession of the ball, creating one big chance for his teammates, as well as enjoying an average of 51.7 touches, making 0.3 key passes, playing 2.9 long balls and completing 38.7 total passes – at a success rate of 90% – per match.
These metrics saw the deep-lying midfielder average an extremely impressive Sofascore match rating of 6.85, ranking him as SĂŁo Paulo’s 19th-best performer in the Brazilian top flight last time out.
Furthermore, SĂŁo Paulo sporting director Muricy Ramalho took the time to praise the midfielder’s style of play earlier this year, with the 67-year-old stating of Maia in an interview with Brazilian media outlet Sampi:
“Maia plays as the [deep-lying] midfielder. He gives security to our defence. He has a good pass too. He’s not just about marking. Nowadays, the midfielder has to play too, and he has a good pass. Of course, he does the simple things but he keeps the ball. He gives stability to SĂŁo Paulo.”
As such, considering just how much potential the 20-year-old quite clearly possesses, it is indeed easy to argue that Moyes simply must launch a move for the wonderkid this winter, as the SĂŁo Paulo starlet would undoubtedly make a fantastic addition to the 59-year-old’s current options in the middle of the park heading into the second half of the 2022/23 campaign.
