Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney signalled his intentions to stay at Fulham when asked about West Ham’s reported interest in signing him.
The 27-year-old attacking midfielder has been in terrific form when fit for the Cottagers this season, scoring four goals, while assisting five in the 33 appearances he has made.
Sky Sports’ correspondent Bryan Swanson claimed on his personal Twitter account during the January Window that the Hammers bid £18million to try and sign Cairney, only to have their offer rejected.
https://twitter.com/skysports_bryan/status/958022476453351424
Despite being knocked back by Fulham in January, according to TEAMtalk the Hammers were confident of successfully signing the midfielder along with his teammate defender Ryan Fredericks in the summer.
However when Cairney was directly asked about the Hammers’ interest in him, he clearly showcased his desire to stay where he is.
“I don’t know how close it was to happening,” Cairney told the Daily Telegraph during an exclusive interview.
“It was out of my hands, but last summer I signed a contract extension and that was me committing my future to Fulham.
“I live around here, I’m settled. I love it.”
OPINION
This is not the response West Ham fans wanted to hear from Cairney, when asked about him potentially arriving at the London Stadium. Previous reports, such as TEAMtalk’s article, suggested that it was practically guaranteed that the 27-year-old would soon be pictured in a Hammers shirt. However clearly Cairney hasn’t been informed of this. While the midfielder may just be towing the line, as he is currently a Fulham player, by giving the answer that is professional, it’s highly unlikely he’s unhappy at Craven Cottage. Cairney willingly put pen to paper on a deal that would keep him at the club until 2021, with Fulham having an option to automatically extend the contract by a year, only last summer. Since then the Cottagers have been playing beautiful football and racking up wins that have given them a real chance of winning promotion this season. So unless Cairney is desperate to move to a Premier League side, he might wait as long as he can to see if the Cottagers can take him to the top-flight.