West Ham United appear to have paid the price for seemingly focusing entirely on negotiating the terms of a fee with Arsenal for captain Declan Rice over the past few weeks.
Having been named the frontrunners to sign Harvey Barnes from Leicester City last month, The Guardian reports that Newcastle United are now close to wrapping up a deal for the in-demand winger.
Who are West Ham's transfer targets?
Bringing in around £105m through the sale of Rice, on top of the fact West Ham can offer European football next season, was supposed to leave the Irons in a strong position this transfer window.
However, with the new season beginning in five weeks' time, the Hammers have yet to bring in any new players.
As well as needing a replacement for Rice, with Juventus star Denis Zakaria and Southampton skipper James Ward-Prowse two possible options, United could also do with bringing in another attacker and a defender.
With Barnes now apparently out of their reach, it may well be that West Ham are forced to turn to another of their targets.
Chile international Dario Osorio is said to be on David Moyes' hitlist, and Universidad de Chile head coach Mauricio Pellegrino accepts his side may have to cash in this summer on a player rumoured to be valued at £7.5m.
Who is Dario Osorio?
Still aged just 19, Osorio has already earned two senior caps for his country after impressing for his club. The teenage talent has made 37 appearances in Chile's Primera Division and has scored eight times.
While that may not sound like a prolific return as such, Osorio has scored seven of those goals in 27 games this season at a rate of 0.41 every 90 minutes, as per FBref.
To put that figure in some perspective, the now-departed Manuel Lanzini topped that particular metric for West Ham last season with 0.36 goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League. Barnes, for what it is worth, scored at a rate of 0.43 goals per 90.
The quality of the two leagues must be factored in, of course, but that gives a rough indication of what Osorio is all about.
The Hijuelas native finds the net from 0.19 of his shots, which again only Lanzini (0.33) could better among West Ham players last season, while Barnes recorded a figure of 0.18 – pretty much the same as Osorio.
Osorio is not quite an exact like-for-like match for Barnes, given that he averages 4.03 crosses per 90 compared to the Leicester player's 1.46, but he certainly ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what Moyes is after.
As pointed out by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, Osorio is a "flamboyant winger" who also has good pace and dribbling ability, and he is also versatile in that he can play on the right, left or just off the striker.
West Ham may be left to wonder what might have been with Barnes, but they still have a chance to rectify the situation by winning the race for Osorio, and all for a fraction of the cost.
