West Ham reach verbal agreement for £9m “warrior”

After a generally positive Premier League Summer Series campaign, can West Ham United start to build some positivity ahead of the new season?

On Sunday, goals from Niclas Füllkrug and Jarrod Bowen saw the Hammers beat Bournemouth 2-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Four days earlier, Graham Potter’s team had also defeated Everton 2-1 in Chicago, thereby finishing second in the Summer Series standings, below only Manchester United, who they’d narrowly lost 2-1 against in their US-tour opener in East Rutherford.

After being appointed in January, Potter won only five of 19 matches in charge, thereby picking up fewer points-per-game than his sacked predecessor, Julen Lopetegui, so will come into this new campaign under serious scrutiny.

If the Irons are going to get back to challenging for European qualification, they still require a few more signings, so could one be about to arrive?

West Ham United’s transfer search

Following the release of veteran Łukasz Fabiański, West Ham have been in the market for a new goalkeeper throughout the summer, seeking to upgrade Alphonse Areola, following the Frenchman’s underwhelming campaign.

The Hammers have been interested in Mads Hermansen of Leicester City, Viktor Johansson of Stoke City and Sheffield United’s Michael Cooper, but have seemingly settled on their number one target to become number one.

That’s because, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, West Ham are “in advanced talks” with Botafogo to sign their shot-stopper John Victor.

Romano adds elsewhere that the Hammers are now “advancing to key stages” of the deal, and that John “wants the move”, subsequently stating that they have reached a “verbal agreement”. He will cost around £9m.

Botafogo, for their part, “have reached an agreement” to sign Neto from Bournemouth, as reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic, thereby securing a replacement, suggesting further that John is set to swap Rio de Janeiro for East London.

How John Victor will improve West Ham

As already outlined, goalkeeper is certainly a position of need at West Ham, and the table below documents why.

As the table outlines, it was actually the now-departed Fabiański who largely boasted better numbers in the Premier League last season, most notably when it comes to save percentage and xG prevented, but neither he nor Areola covered themselves in glory.

Thus, John will surely arrive to be the starter and, assuming the deal is done in time, meaning the Brazilian will be donning the gloves at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland on the opening day of the season.

The 29-year-old joined Botafogo from Santos in January 2024 and picked a good time to move to the Engenhão, a key figure as Fogo won their first Brasileirão title since 1995, as well as their first-ever Copa Libertadores trophy, with John the number one throughout the campaign.

He then captured global attention during the Club World Cup earlier this summer, starting all four matches as his team reached the knockout stages, most notably defeating European champions Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Rose Bowl.

These statistics at a high-level competition are certainly encouraging, hence why teammate Philipe Sampaio, who is a centre-back, described his goalkeeper as a “warrior”.

Meantime, Matt Pyzdrowski of the Athletic was certainly impressed, first praising the ‘quality of his distribution’ and ‘technical ability’ in terms of in possession with the ball at his feet.

Furthermore, they go onto comment that John ‘makes full use of his physical presence’ as well as the fact that the 29 year old is a ‘high-level performer’ when it comes to shot-stopping, concluding that he would be a ‘smart’ and affordable addition for whichever European club are able to get their hands on him.

So why will he prove to be a better signing than future teammate Callum Wilson?

Well, while the England international’s quality has never been in doubt, he can never be fully relied upon when it comes to fitness and availability, seeing just 458 minutes of action for Newcastle last season due to a back and then hamstring injury.

On top of this, Wilson is not a guaranteed starter, especially after Füllkrug and club captain Bowen linked up very nicely as a front two during the pre-season friendlies out in America. Despite the bonus of arriving on a free, the 33-year-old’s record of just 11 goals in all competitions across the last two seasons is hardly the most encouraging.

Thus, while Wilson could still prove to be a shrewd addition, fitness-permitting John could turn out to be a transformational signing, not only as a result of his own quality, but given that he will be filling a position of genuine need.