West Ham ‘close’ To Signing Valencia Teen Toni Martinez

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has confirmed the club is “close” to signing rising Valencia star Toni Martinez.

Jack Sullivan, son of co-owner David Sullivan, tweeted that the transfer could be concluded in the next seven days.

Martinez, 18, has scored more than 100 goals for Valencia’s youth teams in the last four years and he is a Spain U19 international.

At Thursday’s media conference ahead of the weekend’s London derby with Crystal Palace, Bilic said: “With Toni Martinez at Valencia, we are quite close. Terry Westley with the U21s does a great job, and if we finish [the deal], we will have one of the brightest young players from Valencia.”

Jack Sullivan tweeted: “We expect to sign Toni Martinez in the next seven days, he’s one for the future, with a lot of the fee linked to success.”

But Bilic would not be drawn on comments from owner Sullivan that he would like to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, nor speculation linking the club with a move for Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony.

Bilic said: “The other things about big stars and new signings is all speculation. We are going to be active and we are doing some meetings [about targets] and are talking.”

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