West Ham United had a bid accepted for Alassane Plea but he opted for Germany instead.
Read: Mark Noble lifts lid on why he has struggled with Moyes fitness regime during lockdown
The Hammers have been linked with the rapid striker on three separate occasions in the past.
Back in 2016 West Ham reportedly wanted Plea, who was valued at £25m by Nice (Le10Sport).
The then 23-year-old scored 45 goals in 135 games for Nice.
At that time the Hammers put all their eggs in the Alexandre Lacazette and Michy Batshuayi basket but they ended up moving to London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea instead.
West Ham were again linked with Plea in the summer 2o18 when Manuel Pellegrini took over (The Sun).
West Ham missed out on Plea bargain
The Hammers bid £27m (Sky Sports) but the striker opted for a move to Borussia Monchengladbach instead.
Plea has scored 24 goals in 64 games for the German side. And the latest strike was a notable one.
West Ham’s future is in limbo while the Premier League debates when, how and indeed if it will resume next month.
So the eyes of the world were on the Bundesliga as it restarted yesterday.
And former West Ham target Plea notched the fastest goal of the restart.
He scored just 47 seconds into the resumption as Monchengladbach put Sebastien Haller’s old team Eintracht Frankfurt to the sword 3-1.
Ex Hammers target off to fast re-start
It was a superb goal, finishing neatly from an acute angle after a clever one-two inside the box.
Plea showed why West Ham were so interested in his services.
And any watching Hammers fans may have thought there was a nod to that in his celebration.
Plea appeared to do the crossed Hammers celebration with his teammate (BT Sport highlights).
But the celebration was in fact coronavirus related, with the duo putting their arms across their faces and touching one another.
Hammers-like celebration was a nod to global health crisis as Moyes target gets brief cameo
West Ham boss David Moyes will be a keen observer of the German restart this weekend.
The Hammers have been heavily linked with a move for Borussia Dortmund and Germany star Mario Gotze.
The midfielder, famed for scoring the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, is leaving Dortmund on a free transfer this summer.
And he has been linked with a move to West Ham by Sport Bild and The Evening Standard.
Gotze ticks so many boxes for Moyes, who will be scouting him for the remainder of the season (The Evening Standard).
Gotze played just five minutes as a late FOURTH substitute, with Borussia taking advantage of the new extra subs rule introduced by IFAB for the remainder of the football season.
Today Moyes will be able to see whether his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini made a mistake selling Edimilson Fernandes.
Fernandes was a key part of the side when Moyes was West Ham boss first time around.
But Pellegrini did not fancy him at all. The Chilean first shipped him out on loan and then sold him to Mainz for £7million last summer.
He will be in action today at 2.30pm against Cologne.
Read: Chaos for Dimitri Payet and co and West Ham could take advantage
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