West Ham are preparing to sue a Sporting Lisbon official for libel after he claimed the Hammers did not make an offer for midfielder William Carvalho during this summer’s transfer window.

West Ham were chasing the Portuguese midfielder all summer and submitted a club-record bid for the player, but the move fell through after Sporting’s demands were set too high.

Sporting’s communications director Nuno Saraiva claimed on Saturday that the club had received no offer for Carvalho, before going on to make a series of controversial remarks on social media about West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan.

West Ham have responded to the claims, saying they have proof a written offer was made to Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho.

David Sullivan Jr, the son of West Ham’s co-chairman, confirmed on social media the club intend to take legal action against Nuno Saraiva.

“@DaveSulley: West Ham are commencing legal proceedings against the communications director of sporting Lisbon as a written offer for the player was made”

“@DaveSulley: To Bruno de Carvalho the president of sporting Lisbon. To say we never made an offer is nonsense and serious libel”

[Via Twitter]

Last week, Sullivan claimed the Portuguese club had indicated a willingness to conclude a Deadline Day deal for the 25-year-old midfielder.

“It is no secret that we made a club record bid for Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho but unfortunately that offer was rejected a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

“Late last night Sporting Lisbon made contact to accept the original offer but unfortunately it was just too late in the day, and we simply did not have enough time to put the player through a medical.

“We were not prepared, as a club, to buy a player for that amount of money without him having gone through adequate medical checks.”

[Quotes via Sky Sports]