West Ham striker target Darwin Nunez dumped ex Hammer Sebastien Haller out of the Champions League last night.
West Ham fans were left fuming by the club’s lack of transfer activity in the January window.
David Moyes made it clear he was looking to bring a new striker to West Ham having sold Haller to Ajax over a year ago.
And one of them was Benfica striker Darwin Nunez.
Reports from the likes of The Evening Standard claimed West Ham submitted a club record £60m bid for the Uruguay striker on deadline day.
That move failed and West Ham were said to be ready to move for Nunez again in the summer window.
Some West Ham fans were sceptical about the legitimacy of the bid for Nunez and whether the Hammers truly intended to sign the player given how late it came in the window and the fact it had already been widely reported the forward had a £90m release clause.
And Romano says West Ham shot themselves in the foot by only serving to alert rival clubs who will now bid for Nunez in the summer.
There was no shortage of irony for the Irons last night then as Nunez, the man Moyes wanted to replace Haller, knocked the ex Hammer out of the Champions League.
West Ham striker target Darwin Nunez dumps ex Hammer Sebastien Haller out of the Champions League
Benfica went to Ajax in the Champions League last 16 with the tie at 2-2 after a pulsating first leg in which Haller scored.
But it was Nunez who settled the tie with the decisive goal in a 1-0 win for Benfica in Amsterdam. The big, athletic and powerful striker powered home a header home from a set-piece to win the game.
Nunez, who was also voted man of the match, now has 24 goals and two assists in 31 games this season including four in four in the Champions League.
With Nunez now into the last eight of Europe’s top competition with Benfica, West Ham’s hopes of signing him in the summer are looking bleak.
Unless of course the Hammers can qualify for next season’s Champions League themselves.
One route to doing that would be winning the Europa League. West Ham must overturn a 1-0 deficit against Sevilla on Thursday night to have a chance as they bid for a place in the last eight.
With Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio serious doubts, Nunez fired West Ham a reminder of what they are missing ahead of that huge second leg.
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