During the summer transfer window, Majeed Waris’ entourage tried to find him a new club, as explained by L’Equipe in their Tuesday edition.
Waris wasn’t keen on staying with Lorient and dropping down to France’s Ligue 2, and those who represent the player set about finding a new club. There were contacts with Burnley and West Ham, report the French newspaper, but things fell to pieces because Waris didn’t have a concrete enough history with the Ghana national team to get a work permit.
That may not be strictly true.
It’s not too hard to find articles linking Burnley and West Ham to the player. Towards the end of August it was reported Burnley, Watford and Birmingham City had made offers in excess of €10m for the striker, and Lorient were set to consider which offer was best.
Then a few days after the window had shut, and Waris remained at Lorient, the club’s president spoke about a failed move, with Burnley and West Ham named at the time: “The moment where it all got stuck, was around mid-August. We were close, at that point, with some clubs, but there were complications. Then, in the last few days of the window, it was more the work permit issues that were worrying English clubs.”
It was made clear Waris’ desire was to play in England, so a transfer was only put on hold. Since then Waris has scored a grand total of 1 goal in Ligue 2 and is struggling to get in the team, with five appearances in total.
Given a fee would have been in excess of €10m, a work permit may not have been impossible for Burnley or West Ham last summer, and could have been something of an excuse. Neither club would be likely to pay anything like that now for the 26 year old, meaning the work permit issue would be greater.
