David Moyes has made a transfer claim about Man City star Jeremy Doku after a shock summer West Ham bid was reported over the summer.
West Ham and Manchester City shared plenty of column inches during the summer transfer window.
Man City tried but failed to sign Declan Rice and pulled out of a deal for Hammers star Lucas Paqueta following betting allegations.
Then Man City players Carlos Borges and Cole Palmer as well as Kalvin Phillips and – laughably – Kyle Walker were also linked with moves to West Ham from the champions.
Yesterday West Ham and Manchester City shared a pitch.
David Moyes makes transfer claim about Man City star Jeremy Doku after shock summer West Ham bid
And ironically it was a player both David Moyes and Pep Guardiola wanted who made the difference.
There was no doubting the man of the match at the London Stadium as Belgian sensation Jeremy Doku scored and proved a constant menace.
Doku’s pace, power and energy was a sight to behold.
West Ham fans had a particular interest in Doku after the club were linked with him before the window closed.
As ever during the transfer window, it is difficult to know what to believe.
But now Moyes has made a transfer claim about Man City star Doku after reports of that shock summer West Ham bid.
‘Doku? Yea he’s incredible’ Moyes makes big transfer admission with a telling puff of the cheeks
The long and short of it is that the rumours were indeed true according to the Hammers boss.
We reported on Hammers News about the breaking news of an alleged West Ham bid for Doku when it emerged from France last month.
We saw it as a revenge attack on Man City after they made a bid to sign Paqueta.
We also warned it was a pointless pursuit given Man City’s interest.
And so it proved as Man City beat West Ham to the £55m capture as everyone expected at the time.
Now speaking after the defeat to Man City, Moyes puffed his cheeks and said Doku showed just why he wanted to bring him in from Rennes.
‘That’s why we wanted him’
The Scot insists West Ham launched their bid after being blown away by Doku’s performance against his side for Rennes in pre-season.
“Doku, yea (he’s incredible),” Moyes said in his post match press conference.
“Doku we liked a lot.
“We played against him in pre-season and he caused us a problem in pre-season playing on the right.
“He can play both sides, very direct, very good one-v-one, so yea (that’s why we wanted him).
“He was a handful all game.”
All that said West Ham did not do too badly with their alternative did they?
The Hammers signed Mohammed Kudus from Ajax for nearly £20m less as an alternative.
And he showed some flashes of the kind of Doku-esque explosive power, skill, pace and dribbling he will bring to this West Ham side.