West Ham pulled of a real masterstroke with Albian Ajeti

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West Ham United selling striker Albian Ajeti to Celtic for £5 million two years ago now looks like one unbelievable deal.

The Hammers paid £8 million to bring the Swiss forward to the London Stadium from FC Basel when Manuel Pellegrini was still in charge in the summer of 2019 (BBC).

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After failing to score or register an assist in 12 games for West Ham, David Moyes managed to sell him to Celtic for £5 million just one year later (Sky Sports).

Ajeti never hit the ground running with Celtic though, and managed to bag just nine goals in 48 games for the Scottish giants (Transfermarkt).

David Moyes famously didn’t even know who the 25-year-old was when he took charge at the London Stadium two-and-a-half years ago.

The Swiss forward has proven to be just as much of a flop with Celtic as he was with West Ham. He has now been sent on loan to Sturm Graz where, surprise surprise, he’s goalless in three games so far.

West Ham pulled off a coup despite losing £3 million on Albian Ajeti

The Swiss forward just wasn’t cut out for Premier League football. He was nowhere near good enough in fact.

And it seems as though that was the case for him in Scotland as well.

What convinced Pellegrini to pay £8 million to bring him to the London Stadium really is anyone’s guess.

The only explanation is that signing Ajeti was nothing more than a panic buy from the Chilean.

West Ham were incredibly lucky to get £5 million from Celtic for him two years ago. Sure, it represented a £3 million loss for the Hammers.

But we could have so easily allowed him to leave for nothing, as poor as he was for us.

The great thing that Moyes has done since returning as Hammers boss is the way he has approached player recruitment.

It’s very rare that the Scot has got one wrong, Nikola Vlasic aside.

And the days of West Ham signing players like Albian Ajeti seem to be a thing of the past.

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£4 million man is finished at West Ham, but Moyes should keep him around