Barcelona enter race to sign Carlos Bacca as West Ham hopes of £25m deal fade

BARCELONA have entered the race to sign Carlos Bacca as West Ham begin to lose hope of securing the £25million capture of the AC Milan star.

The Hammers have agreed a fee with the Italian giants for the Colombia striker, who then asked for time to decide whether he wanted to move to east London.

Since then the Premier League club have heard nothing – and now Barca have shown an interest in adding him to their glittering squad.

The 29-year-old is believed to favour joining a club playing the Champions League, and that has been holding up any move to West Ham.

Barca can offer him football on that stage – but he would have to accept playing a role as understudy to Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar at the Nou Camp.

The La Liga champions would have little problem finding the money to pay Milan but the player would need assurances over the amount of playing time he would expect.

But West Ham have already begun to search elsewhere for a new forward as they desperately try to bring in a goalscorer for boss Slaven Bilic.

The club has already been frustrated at missing out on signing Michy Batshuayi, who opted to join London rivals Chelsea in a £33million move.

They also found themselves priced out of their other top target Alexendre Lacazette after Lyon rejected three bids for the Frenchman.

The Hammers made an approach to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, only for him to snub them in favour of a move to Manchester United.

And now they are having to turn their attentions to Chelsea’s forgotten striker Loic Remy, with Liverpool misfit Christian Benteke asking for too much in wages.