It would appear to be a fair statement to make that West Ham United endured something of a nightmare in the January transfer window.
Indeed, despite David Moyes making it abundantly clear that he had money to spend in the winter market, as well as the 58-year-old having identified three positions in his first-team squad that he felt required reinforcements, the Scot went into February with exactly the same group as players he had at his disposal in December.
However, this was not through the lack of trying – on the face of it, at least – with the Hammers reportedly seeing bids rejected for Benfica centre-forward Darwin Nunez, Leeds United duo Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha and Atalanta hitman Duvan Zapata.
Furthermore, in comments made towards the end of February, Moyes also revealed that West Ham came extremely close to landing Luis Diaz in the January window – only for Liverpool to beat the Irons to the £37m signing of the 25-year-old winger.
Speaking about his interest in the Colombia international, the 58-year-old said: “We were quite far down the line to sign him from Porto. My understanding was Liverpool were going to come in for him in the summer, and I was going to try to get him in January.
“I don’t know if us trying to get him in January affected Liverpool’s decision but he’s a really good player. I really hoped that he was going to choose West Ham. We didn’t get him in but our ambition to sign the best players to improve West Ham is good.”
Moyes had a nightmare on Diaz
Considering just how impressive Diaz has been since his January switch to Liverpool, the fact that West Ham appeared to be extremely close to sealing a deal for the winger is sure to come as disappointing news to the London Stadium faithful.
Indeed, over his six Premier League appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side so far this season, the £58.5m-rated forward has been in electric form, having already scored two goals and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 3.2 shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.
These returns have seen the player who Andy Robertson dubbed both a “special” and “unplayable” talent average a quite extraordinary SofaScore match rating of 7.18, ranking him as Liverpool’s eighth-best player in the top flight of English football.
As such, it is clear for all to see that the €67k-per-week (£56k-per-week) sensation would have made a fantastic addition to West Ham’s current attacking arsenal – leading us to believe that missing out on the 25-year-old’s signing this winter has proven to be a nightmare for Moyes and his side.
AND in other news: DM can land the next Bowen as WHU plot bid for “special” 20 y/o “destined for the top”
