West Ham are being strongly linked with a summer swoop for Alaves centre back Guillermo Maripan and football.london understands Manuel Pellegrini and director of football Mario Husillos are very keen.
Centre half is an area West Ham want to strengthen in the summer and the 24-year-old has had a fantastic season with one of the surprise packages of La Liga as Alaves currently sit fifth in the table, just two points off another surprise side in Getafe who are fourth.
Maripan has helped his side to eight clean sheets in the league this season and they have only shipped 31 goals, which gives them a better defensive record than Real Madrid in La Liga.
Barcelona and Roma are also thought to be keen on Maripan, who has only been in Europe for two seasons having earned his first move abroad after starting his career with Universidad Catolica in his and Pellegrini's homeland of Chile.
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Maripan has already played 14 times for his country and started for them in their 3-1 defeat against Mexico this weekend. He's expected to lineup for his country against the USA on Tuesday as well.
The defender's performances have seen him earn rave reviews and linked with a move to the Nou Camp, something that seemingly hasn't surprised his current manager at Alaves, Abelardo Fernandez.
"It's a compliment that teams like Barcelona are looking at a player like Guillermo,” said the former Sporting Gijon boss.
"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."
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Should West Ham follow up their interest in Maripan, they could sign him for between £10m and £!2m this summer which, for a club like Alaves, is a serious chunk and will represent a very healthy profit for them as well.
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