Honduran striker Róger Rojas has recalled the time he travelled to London to sign for West Ham United.
In an interview with Futcracks Honduras, the 29-year-old has told the story about the mistake the Premier League side made back in 2013.
“When West Ham happened, it was very exciting for me. They told me that I was going to England, I travelled excited, but when I arrived they didn’t know who I was,” Róger Rojas told Futcracks Honduras (via Diez).
“It was all a complete delusion. I wouldn’t like to talk about it much because it was difficult. Thanks to God, we could overcome it, but it was a great deception, they mocked me. It was something that marked me, but it helped me to continue training and fighting.”
Covering the quotes, Diez points out a previous interview from the player in which he said he was asked to do a trial at West Ham, and a physical coach said he wouldn’t be approved.
But Diaz says he’s got big support from Olimpia once he returned to Paraguay.
“When I returned, I arrived sad, down, but Olimpia has something that I don’t know if the others have it. Professor Juan Carlos saw me and worried about me, he asked me what was happening, I told him it was a hoax, that they even made fun of me and nobody knows what really happened. He told me that he was going to start from scratch, that he was going to start slowly. Olimpia have people who know how to get to the player. We were able to get up, get out of that bad moment and become champion.”
Interestingly, Rojas never managed to make a big move to Europe, and following this case, he’s been loaned out several times by the Paraguayan side in the coming years.
Rojas had spells at Al Ittifaq, Necaxa and Cimarrones. He’s only officially left Olimpia in 2016, when moving to Alajuelense, from Costa Rica. He later played for Sabah FK in Azerbaijan and currently features for Colombian side Tolima.
Now regardless of apologising or not, West Ham’s mistake certainly had a big mark in Roja’s career and personal life.
