Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias has admitted it was the ‘project’ at the club that made him turn down West Ham this summer.
The Hammers spent the majority of this summer on the hunt for a new striker before finally settling on a £36m deal for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Sébastien Haller.
Their search for a new number nine was focused mainly on Spain, with them pushing hard for Maxi Gómez before his move to Valencia.
Iglesias was another they looked at after he scored 20 goals in 43 games in all competitions for Espanyol last season.
Like Gomez, Iglesias was a player they ultimately missed out on, as he elected to join Betis in a £25m deal instead.
That left West Ham to go and get Haller, a move that has paid off so far, the Frenchman bagging four goals in 12 games so far and proving to be a hit at the London Stadium.
Things could have turned out differently had the Hammers gotten their way, but it seems they couldn’t compete with the ‘feelings’ that Iglesias felt about joining Betis.
“You never know what will happen,” he told Estadio Deportivo.
“When you face a possible transfer, you value many things. To me the idea of playing before 50,000 people motivated me a lot, at the team level I think I have improved a lot although in Espanyol it was also very good.
“You are making decisions for feelings. I have always said that I like the Premier League and that I would like to play there one day, but I liked the project, and I am very happy.”
