Italian media outlet Calcio Mercato claimed yesterday that West Ham ‘seriously tried’ to sign Inter Milan midfielder Roberto Gagliardini in January, and some Hammers fans have taken to Twitter in reaction to the speculation.
The east London outfit were desperate for central midfield reinforcements in January. And they ended up strengthening in that particular area by bringing Tomas Soucek in on loan from Slavia Prague.
There is an argument to be made that signing just the Czech star wasn’t enough, however.
And it seems as though West Ham might have known that at the time.
Calcio Mercato claims that the Hammers made very strong attempts to bring Gagliardini to the London Stadium in January, but they were knocked back in their approach by Inter Milan.
Roberto Gagliardini (Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The 25-year-old Inter ace has racked up nine goals and three assists in 87 appearances since moving to the San Siro (Transfermarkt). Hardly prolific numbers.
And his defensive stats aren’t very inspiring either.
In 11 Serie A appearances this season, the six-capped Italy international has averaged 1.1 tackles, 1.2 interceptions and 0.8 clearances (Who Scored). So it could be argued that Gagliardini wouldn’t actually have been that great of an addition for West Ham anyway.
Some Hammers fans took to Twitter in reaction to the speculation claiming that the Inter ace was a target for David Moyes in January…
West Ham clearly did not “seriously try” to sign Roberto Gagliardini – if a player was “seriously tried” to be signed then he would have been signed. Our Board have been at West Ham for a decade and have never seriously tried to sign a player in all of that time.
— Josh Verrills (@WestHamJoshV) February 11, 2020
what a load of absolute cobblers
— Stephen George Lott (@stephenlott) February 12, 2020
£5 quid and a fiesta never gonna bring class
— del hammer ⚒⚒⚒ (@capone_miss) February 11, 2020
But were only short of asking price by 99% and wanting that over 5 years. Every transfer headline had the same answer. Next 🤡🤡🐕
— Paul Rosser (@PaulRosser01) February 11, 2020
I seriously tried to win the lottery, only assisted if I’d actually bought a lottery ticket but I didn’t !!!
But hey…..”I tried” !!!!🙄🙄🙄🙄— Andy Tacey (@thetaceyboy) February 11, 2020
— WHUFAN⚒ (@WHUlogical) February 11, 2020
— Fazzamania (@fazzamania) February 11, 2020