West Ham tipped to make £17m bid to land in-demand forward transfer target

West Ham are reportedly ready to bid €5 million (£4.3m) more than their Premier League rivals Brentford as they heat up their pursuit of the Portuguese forward Jota Silva.

Jota, 24, currently plays for the Primeira Liga club Vitoria de Guimaraes but transfer interest in the winger has started gaining significant traction in recent weeks with the Irons keen to be lucky winners of his signature.

West Ham are currently set to lose both Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus this summer, with the former heavily linked with a move to Manchester City and the latter being eyed as a Mohamed Salah replacement, the Irons will be eager to secure in-form replacements as soon as June comes around.

According to O Jogo, via SportWitness, the London Stadium side are eady to move forward with a proposal for the Portuguese international’s services and which to land a deal ahead of the Bees and Vitoria de Guimaraes’s league rivals Benfica.

The report also indicates that the Stratford club have shown their willingness to pay Jota’s €20m (£17m) release clause after they became aware of the growing interest from Benfica and Brentford, with the latter supposedly willing to put forward a bid of up to €15m.

The Irons have shown great interest in Jota throughout the season, sending scouts to his fixtures on five separate occasions with all subsequent reports advising the club to sign him, and they are now ready to make this a reality ahead of the start of the summer transfer window in just under a month’s time.

The 24-year-old has been with his current side since 2022, having previously played for Sousense, Epsinho and Casa Pia in the lower leagues of Portuguese football. He made his top-flight debut on 7 August 2022 and would go on to score his first goal for the side 14 days later.

The winger has gone on to make 79 appearances for Vitoria Guimaraes across all competitions, scoring 13 goals in the process. Earlier this year, Jota also made his international debut, featuring in Portugual’s friendlies against Sweden and Slovenia in March.