David Moyes, West Ham’s Head Coach revealed that they submitted a bid for Amadu Onana Lille’s Midfielder, during the transfer window but it didn’t pull through since they couldn’t reach a consensus.
Onan joined Lille from Hamburger SV in August 2021 and did put out some fantastic performances in 42 matches for Lille, in which he scored three goals and one assist.
Due to his impressive performances for Lille, several clubs were bidding for the player. West Ham was able to make a deal with Lille for Onana in early August, but the deal crashed when they couldn’t agree on personal terms with Onana and his agent.
Everton immediately grasped this opportunity to submit a €33m bid to Lille for the player, Onana ended up signing a five-year contract with Everton.
Onana has been doing quite well since he joined Everton, he made his first debut for Everton in their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
David Moyes was asked about his pursuit for Onana, in a press conference ahead of West Ham’s match on Sunday.
According to Moyes, they were so close to signing Onana and they really wanted him on their team due to his performances but things didn’t go as planned, as Onana ended in Everton.
“We were close [to signing him],” Moyes admitted (via Goal). “It was just one of the periods of the transfer”
“We were looking to bring him in. He’s an up-and-coming player and for long periods, we thought we would have got him but it didn’t quite work and he ended up at Everton.”