Watford chairman and CEO Scott Duxbury has lifted the lid on the shock turn of events which led to West Ham losing attacking midfielder Domingos Quina to the Hornets.
The 18-year-old talent, who had been at West Ham since 2016 following his exit from Chelsea, made a last minute move from the Hammers to their Premier League rivals in the summer transfer window, having had just a year left on his contract in east London.
Revealing how his signing came about, Duxbury revealed that it was a shock the teenage talent was made available to them and how technical director Filippo Giraldi could not believe that they had the opportunity to snap him up.
He told the Financial Times: “I said to Filippo, ‘Is he any good?’ (He) went, ‘Yes, he’s phenomenal, Scott, but it’s got to be a joke, how on earth can we do this?’
“I phone West Ham. It’s not a joke. He’s got a year left of his contract. They just want to do a deal because they know they’re going to lose him in January, [so] we have a guy in a car park with 10 minutes to go before the window closes.
“If you didn’t have that speed of decision-making, he wouldn’t be here now.”
Opinion
Quina might not have made many appearances for the Hammers’ first team, with just six outings under his belt before his departure, but it is already looking as though this could be a move which comes back to bite them in the not-so-far future. At the end of the day, his exit from east London came down to how long he had left on his contract and having made that mistake once, you can be certain the top brass at the London stadium will not allow themselves to be stung twice. It seems as though Quina wanted to leave the club anyway, perhaps because of his lack of action, but it was strange to choose Watford as his next destination, with just two appearances for the Hornets in the fledgling stages of his career at the club. Senior game time will be just as difficult to come by for the 18-year-old and so he might well find himself frustrated over the coming months. Not as frustrated as West Ham though, who will probably know just how impressive a talent they have lost to their rivals, and they will be kicking themselves that they had to force him out the door.