Ex-WHU Employee has been speaking on the latest edition of the West Ham Way podcast about all things relating to West Ham United.
One of the topics that he spent some time on was the Hammers’ pursuit of Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri.
West Ham made an offer for the 23-year-old in the last January transfer window but couldn’t agree a fee, and after they sold Sebastien Haller, that left them with just one natural striker in Michail Antonio.
Ex revealed that David Moyes had identified En-Nesyri as the man he wanted to boost the Hammers, but the deal just didn’t happen.
He said: (59:34) “Moyes did identify strikers that he wanted, the guy at Sevilla, Moroccan fella [En-Nesyri]; he identified him, and we didn’t sign him.
“Now, yes, they were asking a lot, and they didn’t want to sell him, but if our board wanted Champions League football; whatever they wanted £40/45m might have been slightly too much, but if it almost, not guaranteed Champions League football, but certainly gave you a good chance, you would have thought maybe they would have just pushed it and signed him.”
Do you think En Nesyri could have secured a Champions League place?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on the Hammers’ move for En-Nesyri…
En-Nesyri has scored 23 goals this season in all competitions, and had the Hammers signed him, you would have thought that he could have been the player to either fill in for Antonio or perhaps even replace him.
However, they took the risk of leaving Moyes with just one striker, and that striker is now injured, so you can see why Ex is disappointed the club didn’t sign En-Nesyri.
However, with just five games to go, West Ham can still finish in both a Champions League spot or Europa League spot, and if that happens, then maybe they will go back in for En-Nesyri?
It is hard to judge if missing out on En-Nesyri could have cost West Ham a Champions League place when the season isn’t finished yet.
In other news: ‘Word from my sources’ – Ex reveals huge West Ham injury boost