West Ham told what they can expect from John Victor with one significant issue flagged up

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West Ham United are looking to strengthen their goalkeeper ranks and Botafogo’s John Victor is one of the players in their sights.

TBR Football understands that West Ham have been pushing to strike a deal for Victor for a fee of less than £10million.

Indeed, West Ham are now in advanced talks over John, though they are also speaking to Leicester City about Mads Hermansen.

South American football expert Tim Vickery has now discussed what John could bring to West Ham, with just one potential issue as things stand.

Tim Vickery says John Victor is ‘very impressive’ but language barrier may be an issue

Vickery says West Ham would be getting a “really dependable” goalkeeper in John, who is “tall, athletic, lively and very impressive”.

He also said Hammers fans would have nothing to worry about regarding how John could fare in the Premier League.

“When they brought him back last year, he was an essential part of the team that won the Brazilian title and the Copa Libertadores,” Vickery told Sky Sports.

“He had an excellent tournament recently in the Club World Cup.

“Brazil is really becoming a mass producer of goalkeepers and John is right in that mould. He’s tall, athletic, lively and very impressive.

John has given wonderful service to Botafogo, he’s been really dependable.”

Vickery flagged up just one thing for the time being – the language barrier.

“The only thing you would say at this stage is I don’t think he has the language,” Vickery continued.

“Defending is a collective task and it is vital that the goalkeeper is able to communicate with his defensive unit. So John would need some time getting up to speed with that.

“But in terms of his abilities, I don’t think he has anything to fear in the Premier League and he can give West Ham equally good service as he gave to Botafogo.”

READ MORE: Champions League winner now says he almost signed for West Ham in a ‘weird deal’

The difficult decision West Ham have to make

TBR Football sources understand Hermansen is West Ham’s number one choice, but Leicester’s initial asking price of £25million put them off.

Although Leicester have since indicated they could be willing to negotiate a lower fee, it’s unlikely that they’d go as low as £10million, which is John’s price tag.

West Ham are also looking to bring in reinforcements in midfield, so they need to be mindful of how much money they spend on a goalkeeper.

At the same time, the Hammers are desperate to land the right goalkeeper, so they need to strike a balance.