Manchester City youngster departs club in £14M move to West Ham United

Over the last few seasons, Manchester City have had a significant amount of talent leave the academy. The looks to be continuing again this summer, with Shea Charles joining Southampton and James Trafford sealing a move to Burnley. The latest City EDS product to leave is Carlos Borges, who will join West Ham United, per Fabrizio Romano.

The fee for the young winger will be £14M, including a buyback clause, a typical transfer detail for most City prospects leaving the club.

Carlos Borges won Premier League 2 Player of the Season for 22/23. He netted 21 goals and added 11 assists in 24 matches. He is also a two-time Premier League 2 champion with Manchester City. Borges is a Portugal U19 international but remains eligible for Guinea-Bissau. Of the current crop of Manchester City academy players, Borges is arguably the biggest talent. While it begs the question of why he isn’t making it into the first team, the competition at City is simply just too high.

Despite having zero professional minutes, Borges will come into West Ham United with high expectations. The talented forward will be looking to be a competitive option to Said Benrahma on the right wing. The biggest strengths of Borges’s game are his dribbling and pace. Despite being a winger, he often is able to make cut-in runs to the middle of the pitch to throw off the defenders. He also has a knack for great positioning in the penalty box, making his way into the area in open space.

While it would’ve been a treat to see Borges perform in a Pep Guardiola side, the deal makes sense for City. They get yet another substantial fee for an academy player and have the chance to bring the player back on likely a modest buyback clause. Just look to Romeo Lavia at Southampton, who is now valued at £50M, with City having a £40M buyback clause for next summer.

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West Ham United have apparently just made an enquiry for Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport (print edition July 20th, page 3), West Ham are interested in signing Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus in the summer transfer window, although we could face competition from Aston Villa for his signature.

Hammers boss David Moyes definitely needs to sign a new striker this summer in my opinion.

Michail Antonio could be on his way out of the club, and the same can be said for Gianluca Scamacca and Danny Ings.

 

And it seems as though Moyes is setting his sights on a striker who has experienced real problems over the past 18 months or so, in spite of his incredible quality…

Gazzetta dello Sport reckon that the Hammers are interested in signing the €80 million (£69 million) rated striker this summer.

Let’s get real here though, I just can’t see this one happening.

And not just because of how much money Juventus are demanding for his signature either.

Vlahovic has been really poor for Juve since moving to Turin from Fiorentina 18 months ago, bagging just 23 goals in 63 games to date for the Old Lady (Transfermarkt).

The Serbia undoubtedly possesses real talent and is a powerhouse of a centre-forward when he’s on form.

However, he has really struggled over the last year or so, and is clearly very low on confidence. This would be a risk not worth taking for the Hammers in my opinion.

Let’s face it though – I highly doubt West Ham are even in for Dusan Vlahovic in the first place.