West Ham 'enter' race for Sheffield United's Gustavo Hamer amid Leeds United 'interest'
Leeds United reportedly joined in race for Sheffield United’s Gustavo Hamer by West Ham United
West Ham United have reportedly joined Leeds United in the race to sign Gustavo Hamer from Sheffield United.
Hamer will be entering the final year of his contract in the summer and with Sheffield United set to lose their parachute payments, a parting of ways appears almost inevitable.
Transfer speculation has followed Hamer throughout his Blades spell, with Leeds having been continually credited with interest.
Gustavo Hamer latest
Reports have indicated he will be sacrificed by Sheffield United summer and SportsBoom have named both West Ham and Leeds as admirers.
It has been claimed the Hammers view Hamer as someone who could increase their squad depth in the Premier League or the Championship.
Leeds, meanwhile, could reportedly revive their interest in the 28-year-old when the summer transfer window opens.
Chris Wilder’s stance
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder was recently quizzed about reports indicating Hamer and fellow midfielder Sydie Peck could be sold this summer.
He said: "If we have to sell a player or two, then we will do as long as we don't give them away. That's my take on it. We have to raise money.
"The owners put a lot of money in to buy the football club. They put a lot of money in, in terms of the investment they put in at the start of the season. If that's the case, then that's the case.
"I'm okay with that, but we can't develop these players and just let them go for nothing. We can't buy players and let them go cheaply or not at a price where we don't think it's the right price for us. We're in a situation where the majority of clubs in this division have to recoup. You've all seen the numbers.”
Leeds United’s 2024 pursuit of Gustavo Hamer
Back in 2024, Leeds’ former chief executive Angus Kinnear admitted the Whites had pursued Hamer. He spoke candidly about interest in the midfielder, but made it clear a deal for the Brazil-born talent had not been possible.
He said: “Gustavo Hamer, who we’ve had an interest in before, before he went to Sheffield United, was another player we felt would have significantly improved the team.
“The way that transfer worked is, we all assumed there was no chance Sheffield United would sell their star player to a promotion rival, based on the prize and the size of what promotion’s worth. If they sell him to Leeds United and we go up by one point and they don’t, they’ve cost themselves over £100m in TV revenue.
“However, we were given some light and this is where the market works through agents and through contacts, that they might be open to an offer. Sheffield United are a difficult club to deal with at the moment because they’re in an ownership transition. There’s no friendly face you can ring up and get a sense of whether the player’s for sale or not.
“The only way to provoke the conversation was to make an offer. We made an offer which we think was at a fair level. They came back, very clearly, and said he was not for sale in this window to anybody, and he certainly wouldn’t be on sale to Leeds United, and there was certainly no price that could pull him away.
“Once you get that kind of feedback and you believe in that kind of feedback, you have to move on. Very simply, Gustavo Hamer wasn’t available for Leeds United in this window.”