William Carvalho to West Ham United was one of the most entertaining transfer sagas of recent years.
Sporting and the Hammers had a very public spat over the failed transfer, with emails being published, and each blaming the other for the deal failing to go through.
Bruno de Carvalho, the then Sporting president, believed West Ham were going in with figures which didn’t match the midfielder’s value, and he felt insulted by the attempts from the Hammers to put pressure on.
That saw insults sent from Lisbon to London, and it ultimately ended up with William staying where he was.
He then left for Real Betis, and there’s been recent claims of interest from clubs including Leicester City and AS Monaco.
Current West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic was then in charge of the Premier League club, and, speaking to Portuguese newspaper Record, he’s been asked about his efforts to sign William for West Ham.
The West Brom boss explained what he’s seen in the player, and what went wrong: “I saw the team’s metronome, a very calm player with the ball, who always knows where he is and the opponent, always places himself between the ball and the goal, manages to change the flank, available, cold, does not lose the ball, very strong in transitions, offensive and defensive.
“He gives balance to the team. The way he played at the Europeans was incredible. I like players like that. They put a smile on my face. I tried everything, because it seemed obvious that he wasn’t going to be cheap. It took a long time and the president decided not to proceed. With all due respect to Betis, it was strange to me that he didn’t go to one of the biggest clubs. And even Jose Mourinho congratulated me. The first game of the season was Manchester United-West Ham, at Old Trafford, and he told me ‘You are going to hire a good player’. Only not…”
