West Ham, in the last few days of the transfer window, were desperate for a centre-back.
They made offers, tried to sign players, but none arrived, meaning David Moyes has to make do with just a handful of players for a role as important as ever in today’s football.
One of the players the club targeted late in the window was Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car, for whom West Ham had made an official offer, although it was labeled ‘quite far’ from the Ligue 1’s asking price.
Then came another article from L’Equipe suggesting €25m could get the deal done before the end of the window, which was seemingly offered.
We say this because Caleta-Car recently revealed he actually rejected an offer from a Premier League club late on in the window in order to stay at Marseille.
Speaking in a press conference on Monday ahead of the Champions League fixture against Manchester City, the Croatian said, relayed by RMC Sport: “Yes, I had an offer from a Premier League club. It was a really good offer for the club and for me, but I chose to stay to play in the Champions League because it was my biggest dream. When I was young I dreamt about it so that was the first reason”.
That’s fair, but if he decided to turn down a good contract from the Premier League, it can be assumed Marseille actually accepted a bid for their defender.
They left it up to him, and the 24-year-old made his mind up fairly swiftly, it seems.
