da betsul： According to reports in Portuguese publication A Bola, Liverpool and West Ham United are interested in signing Benfica striker Raul Jimenez.
What’s the word, then?
da roleta： Well, A Bola say the Mexico international – who has been featuring for his country at the Confederations Cup this summer – has been put up for sale by the Portuguese giants and they are braced to receive some big bids for the 26-year-old.
Despite the fact that he is Benfica’s record signing having joined from Atletico Madrid in a £18.9m deal in 2015, he looks set to leave the Stadium of Light.
The Sun says that West Ham came close to getting Jimenez when he left Atletico, and they are ready to reignite their interest in the attacker as Irons boss Slaven Bilic looks to add to his attacking options.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is also in the market for a centre-forward and he is considering submitting a bid for the Mexican star, according to A Bola.
How did Jimenez do last season?
He did pretty well.
The 26-year-old scored 11 goals and provided a further three assists in 32 appearances in all competitions for Benfica, but it was a bit of a stop-start campaign as the Mexico international suffered a range of different injuries throughout.
Would he be a good signing for West Ham and Liverpool?
It’s difficult to say.
While his goalscoring record in Portugal for Benfica is decent, it isn’t really eye-catching and he also scored just one in 28 appearances for Atletico Madrid previously.
Of course, it’s always difficult to know how a player will adapt to the Premier League when he is coming to England for the first time, but Jimenez does have the physical stature to be a success.
West Ham have shown with Andy Carroll that they like to play with a tall and strong centre-forward and the 26-year-old fits the bill.
A move to Liverpool may be slightly more unlikely considering that Roberto Firmino was preferred in that position to Daniel Sturridge at times last season, and it is difficult to see Jimenez being anything more than a substitute at Anfield.
What’s the verdict, then?
Well, while there is likely to be a lot of interest in Raul Jimenez this summer it would certainly be a risk for either Liverpool or West Ham to take a punt on the 26-year-old, and they may well go for alternative targets instead.