West Ham ‘pulled out of the poker game’ for Girona’s Aleix Garcia on Wednesday, leaving him free to sign for Bayer Leverkusen.
That’s according to BILD, who say West Ham gave up the battle for the midfielder and turned their attention elsewhere.
They explain that Garcia had his medical with Leverkusen on Thursday ahead of completing his deal with the German champions later that evening.
Bayer Leverkusen are paying around €18m for the Girona captain, who was deemed a dream signing for Xabi Alonso.
They had needed to work to get their man, facing competition from West Ham throughout the process before the Hammers eventually ‘pulled out of the poker game’ on Wednesday.
That freed the path to the Spaniard and a day later he had landed in Leverkusen to finalise his move there and bring his time with Girona to an end.
Why West Ham pulled out of the race isn’t made clear, although given how quickly their German rivals pulled the deal off, perhaps it was simply a case of realising Garcia had made his choice and giving up.
It now remains to be seen if they turn their attention to another Garcia like player or decide to spend their money elsewhere, with Julen Lopetegui seemingly keen to spend and shape the squad he’s inherited as quickly as possible.
