West Ham could have signed Dutch star Arnaut Danjuma for just £21m from Bournemouth and now he has a £62m release clause.
Less than a year ago West Ham were being heavily linked with a move for attacker Danjuma as he impressed for the Cherries in the Championship (The Sun).
An injury-hit campaign the season before meant Danjuma was unable to help save Bournemouth from relegation.
West Ham were linked with the 25-year-old again in the summer and he seemed to tick all the boxes of David Moyes’s recruitment policy; a good age, athletic, powerful, fast and clearly talented.
Moyes had also proved he is not afraid to dip into the Championship to make signings too.
But instead West Ham spent £33m on Nikola Vlasic while Danjuma was snapped up for just £21m by Villarreal (Sky Sports).
West Ham could have signed Arnaut Danjuma for just £21m and now he has a £62m release clause
And it looks to have been a massive mistake by West Ham to have passed up the chance on Danjuma.
Because amidst a superb season in which Danjuma has shone as a “hybrid striker” for the Yellow Submarine, a release clause of a whopping £62m has been inserted into his contract.
According to transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano, that has come about as a result of new interest from some top Premier League clubs.
And it’s easy to see why the alleged West Ham target has attracted such attention.
The man West Ham supposedly passed up has hit eight goals in La Liga and four in the Champions League for Villarreal so far this season.
And Danjuma’s hat-trick at the weekend meant he became the first Dutch player to score three in a La Liga match since Rafael van der Vaart for Real Madrid way back in 2008.
“There’s a release clause into Arnaut Danjuma contract and it’s worth €75m (£62), valid in the summer,” Romano said on Twitter.
“Villarreal manager Unai Emery loves him – he’s now also playing as hybrid striker. Eight goals in Liga, four goals in UCL and English top clubs are monitoring Danjuma.”
It is easy to say West Ham should have signed him with hindsight.
But the fact he was on Moyes’s radar and has been so successful as a second striker is rather galling given West Ham’s issues in that area of late.