Brazilian star Gabriel Barbosa rejected a move to West Ham United in January, his agent has revealed.
Representative Junior Pedroso was interviewed by journalist Jorge Nicola on Monday night, and said the Hammers made an official bid to sign the striker.
Gabigol belonged to Inter Milan at the time. He spent one year on loan at Flamengo in 2019, where he won both the Brazilian League and the Copa Libertadores, with 43 goals in 57 appearances.
In January 2020, when the striker returned to Inter, the Rio de Janeiro side were one of the many clubs who fought for his permanent move. They won the race and agreed a €16m deal with the Italian club.
Speaking to Jorge Nicola, Junior Pedroso has detailed the race for the player, saying Chelsea were another Premier League side who had talks for him.
“But who really advanced were two teams in Germany and a team in England that made a proposal, which was West Ham. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke wanted him. And in England there were more teams, we had flirted with Chelsea and some other clubs. Perhaps not all of them should be named.
“But for the project that was presented in January, Flamengo were the best project for him to take off in his career, maybe thinking about Europe in a second moment.”
Despite the many clubs in the battle, the agent reiterated that the official offer came only from the Hammers.
“Official proposal came from West Ham. The others were conversations. Because the club only puts it on paper when they’re sure they’ll buy. West Ham were sure they were going to buy because the proposal was very interesting.”
Asked if West Ham’s offer ha been bigger than Flamengo’s, the agent has confirmed it: “Bigger for Gabriel. For Inter it was also bigger.”
“He didn’t think about it. He preferred to go to Flamengo.”
