A surprise twist to the deal which took Terem Moffi to Nice will anger West Ham fans as the transfer deadline edges ever closer.
West Ham fans will be well aware by now that the Moffi saga reached a conclusion yesterday as the striker flew to the French coast for a medical with Nice.
As reported on Hammers News yesterday lunchtime, West Ham looked set to lose out in the battle with Nice after the French club made a £26m bid for the Nigerian forward which was likely to be accepted.
Lorient took their player’s wishes into account with the 23-year-old preferring a move to Nice over West Ham.
Foot Mecato claimed the £26m deal that trumped West Ham’s own £20m plus agreement had been accepted by Lorient.
With West Ham having spent almost £200m on eight signings in the summer and bringing in Danny Ings this month, it perhaps should come as no surprise the Hammers were not willing to really push the boat out to try and blow Nice out of the water.
But it seems West Ham may not have needed to – certainly not right now anyway.
Because there has been a surprise twist to the Moffi deal which will anger West Ham fans as the deadline edges ever closer.
Hammers supporters were excited at the prospect of signing Moffi – who has the pace, strength and athleticism many feel the team is sorely lacking.
Injury-prone 30-year-old Ings is the only arrival for the first team so far this month. So news Nice had beaten West Ham to Moffi – coupled with the lack of signings at the London Stadium despite all their relegation rivals bar Everton being seriously active – has left many fans disgruntled.
To add insult to injury Moffi ended up joining Nice ON LOAN with an obligation to buy. That’s a deal one would assume would surely have been well within West Ham’s reach if they could persuade the Nigerian to come to London instead.
Nice confirmed the loan with obligation to buy on the club’s official website.
If West Ham and David Moyes really wanted to make a statement they could have outbid Nice and offered enhanced terms to Moffi knowing the transfer outlay was diverted to the summer.