West Ham United have shifted their focus away from Juventus striker Fabio Quagliarella, instead preferring to pursue Udinese’s Matej Vydra.
Juventus consider Quagliarella to be surplus to requirements after the capture of Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez, with the club hoping to move the 30-year-old by the end of the transfer window.
The Daily Mail reports that West Ham’s reasons for giving up on Quagliarella have mostly to do with his age and his price tag as Juventus are looking for at least €11 million for the player.
As a result, the London club have decided to instead go after the younger and cheaper Vydra, who enjoyed an excellent season on loan at Gianfranco Zola’s Watford last season, scoring 22 goals in 44 matches for the Hornets.
Vydra has only played in three matches for Udinese since signing for the club in 2010 from Czech club Banik Ostrava for €4m, most of which was spent either on the sidelines due to a season-ending knee injury in 2011 or more recently on loan.
Udinese have reportedly put an €9m price tag on the Czech international.
