Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla at the weekend interviewed Brazilian striker Reginaldo da Silva, who currently plays for Serie C side Reggina.
The 36-year-old arrived at the third division side last summer, and is having a decent season with six goals and five assists in 30 appearances so far.
And it turns out that during the chat, Reginaldo revealed he could’ve moved to the Premier League a few years ago, since West Ham United were interested in him.
“Years ago I was very close to West Ham. I would have liked to have an experience in England,” Reginaldo told Alfredo Pedulla.
“I was in Japan in 2013 and it was a wonderful experience. They are so organised that I had the house, driver and personal translator provided by the club for the six months I was there. One problem was the time zone. The culture is completely different, but I’ve always been good in Japan and it’s an experience that I would do again. But I missed Italy: it’s difficult to live peacefully as I live here.”
It was in 2000 that Reginaldo left Brazil, moving from his first club Campo Grande to Italian side Treviso. He played for a few years in Europe, for Serie A sides such as Fiorentina, Parma and Siena, and that’s probably when he drew West Ham’s attention.
In 2012, he had a loan spell in Japan at JEF United Chiba, and then returned to Brazil, where he played for Vasco da Gama.
After a couple of years without a club, he went back to Italy, having played for Paganese, Trapani, Pro Vercelli, Monza and now finally Reggina.
