A whole host of Premier League clubs including West Ham, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest are said to be interested in Corinthians forward Yuri Alberto this winter.
Despite heavy interest in the Brazilian forward, Premier League clubs have been warned off of Alberto by Corinthians chairman Augusto Melo, he has insisted no one will be leaving the club as they look to build on an impressive end to the 2024 campaign, where they fought off the threat of relegation.
Not only is his club keen on on keeping him around, the 23-year-ols is also reportedly keen on staying in Sao Paulo. Alberto has been at the club since July 2022 where he joined on an initial loan from Zenit, before making it permanent on a free transfer in January 2023. The 6ft striker has bagged 55 goals and provided 17 assists in 146 matches in all competitions for Corinthians.
“He will not leave,” a bullish Augusto Melo told TNT Sports of his reportedly £17 million-rated striker “He is very happy here and will not leave.
“We started the year with many youth players, we had no squad and no credibility in the market to sign players. Today, thank God, everyone wants to come to Corinthians.
“We are not going to get rid of anyone. We want to keep this squad.”
It is very likely that West Ham will be in for a striker this winter with Michail Antonio starting to frustrate fans, Danny Ings not being trusted from the start and Niclas Füllkrug’s true whereabouts still unknown by Hammers fans.
Yuri Alberto is a long-term target for West Ham, we reportedly had a bid worth around £14m rejected in 2023. It would probably take a bid of at least double that for Corinthians to even consider. However, the Timao are not looking to cash in on Yuri Alberto but build with him. The Hammers are unlikely to have that much cash to spend this winter anyway.
As a player, many would expect Alberto to flop if he was to make the move to East London. As Hammers fans well know, we haven’t had the best of luck with strikers since David Sullivan has owned the club and it is important for them to finally get it right this time after a lot of failed signings.
