West Ham United are set to miss out on the signing of former Barcelona, Everton and Watford winger Gerard Deulofeu.
The 28-year-old has previously been linked with the Hammers by Calciomercato, who earlier this year reported that David Moyes’ side, who will be competing in next season’s Europa Conference League, were keen on a move to sign the 2017/18 La Liga title winner, who has already played in England for Everton and Watford across four separate spells.
However, Calciomercato are now saying that Deulofeu will not be moving this summer having been keen on rumoured interest in him from Italian giants Napoli.
The former Barcelona winger joined Udinese last year after leaving Watford permanently and scored 13 goals in 34 Serie A matches last season, helping his club to a 12th-place finish, the joint-best finish the club have had in the last nine seasons.
Reports from Italy claim that Deulofeu has been infatuated by the interest from the Naples-based side and that reported interested is deterring the Spaniard from a move to England, having spent the last two campaigns in Italy.
Deulofeu’s excellent campaign in front of goal was his best season in front of goal in the league since playing for Barcelona’s B team, having mixed scoring success in England while with Everton and Watford.
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The Spanish forward first came to England when leaving Barcelona on loan for the 2013/14 season, moving to Goodison Park on a season-long deal. In his first Everton season, he scored four times in 29 games.
After a season-long loan with Sevilla, Everton then signed the Spaniard permanently, who played 46 more times for Everton, scoring four goals.
Deulofeu briefly left the Toffees on loan to play for AC Milan before returning permanently to Barcelona for a season. Watford then signed the winger on loan for the 2017/18 campaign, re-signing him permanently after that for the next two seasons.
While with Watford, he helped them reach the FA Cup final in the 2018/19 season, but left on loan Udinese a season later when the Hornets suffered relegation from the Premier League.
While West Ham are said to miss out on Deulofeu this summer, one player they are said to be close to signing Rennes centre-back Nayef Aguerd.
The Moroccan is reportedly close to completing a £30million move to the London Stadium, having helped Rennes to qualify for next seasons Europa League.
