West Ham United allegedly made a low-ball bid for Napoli midfielder Piotr Zielinski in the summer transfer window.
That’s according to journalist Ciro Venerato who told Area Napoli that the Hammers only offered 50% of what Napoli were asking for the 28-year-old ace:
The hottest renewal? Surely that of Piotr Zielinski. Napoli had thought of selling the midfielder, but the English team that wanted him [West Ham] offered only 50% of what [Napoli chairman Aurelio] De Laurentiis wanted. Napoli, having taken note of the low offer of the English club, consequently decided not to sell Piotr Zielinski. The choice then fell on Fabián Ruiz, sold to PSG.
At the time, Napoli were said to be demanding around £38 million for Zielinski according to Tuttomercatoweb.
Now, at the time, we really wanted David Moyes to bring Piotr Zielinski to West Ham. He’s a superb footballer after all.
The thing is though, the Hammers ended up getting an even better player, and a younger one at that, after moving on from the 28-year-old Napoli ace…
West Ham low-ball Piotr Zielinski bid could not have worked out more perfectly
According to football journalist Ciro Venerato, the Hammers only offered around £19 million for Zielinski.
That was obviously nowhere near enough to tempt Napoli into selling one of their best players. And as a result, Moyes moved on to other targets.
The Scot settled on signing the magnificent Lucas Paqueta from Lyon for around £51 million (The Times).
The 25-year-old Brazilian looks like he real deal and has already bagged two assists for West Ham.
He’s three years younger than Zielinski and is far more skilful. It could also be argued that he’s just as strong in the challenge as the Pole as well.
Paqueta is streets ahead of the Napoli midfielder in my opinion. Sure, we paid £51 million for him, and that’s a serious amount of cash.
In the modern era though, you have to spend that kind of money on players if you want to compete at the very highest level.
Had we signed Zielinski for £38 million, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to sign Paqueta as well.
£51 million for the 25-year-old will be far great value for money in the long run than signing Zielinski for £38 million would have been.
And in my opinion, the West Ham low-ball Piotr Zielinski bid could not have worked out more perfectly for the club.
For once, David Sullivan’s often tedious negotiating tactics have worked out in our favour!
Read also:
‘Special’ player was so close to leaving West Ham in the summer transfer window
‘Really good’: Fornals names the West Ham new signing who’s impressed him already
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