West Ham United will have to stump up the cash if they want to sign Alaves defender Guillermo Maripan in the summer transfer window.
football.london understands that manager Manuel Pellegrini and director of football Mario Husillos are very keen on signing the 24-year-old who has enjoyed a fine season in the top flight of Spanish football.
Maripan has featured in all but six games so far has played in seven of the eight games in which Alaves have kept a clean sheet in La Liga.
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What's more impressive is that the team as a whole have only conceded 31 goals, which gives them a better defensive record than Real Madrid and have shipped four more than leaders Barcelona.
The Chile international's performances have not got unnoticed with the Catalan giants as well as Serie A side AS Roma also credited with an interest which could prove to be an issue for the Hammers' hopes of landing him.
His manager at club level, Abelardo Fernandez, welcomed interest from one of European football's biggest clubs.
"It's a compliment that teams like Barcelona are looking at a player like Guillermo," he said.
"Guille is a very young player.
"He has a great capacity for growth and in recent games has grown tremendously. He's doing very well, he’s very reliable."
With that said, the person who is likely to have the final say on Maripan's future should a bid come in for the defender is the club's sporting director Sergio Fernandez and he's revealed how much it would cost the Irons to get a deal done in the summer.
"If a club wants Maripan, they must pay his release clause, which is set at £23 million," Fernandez told Marca.
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That would be £1m extra than what West Ham paid Toulouse for Issa Diop last summer and he's proven to be money well spent with a number of impressive performances in his debut season in English football.
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