David Moyes has revealed that West Ham could have signed Cole Palmer from Manchester City had Pep Guardiola’s move for Lucas Paqueta not collapsed last summer.
Palmer completed a £42.5million move to Chelsea, who take on the Hammers on Sunday, in September and the England forward has been by far the best performer for Mauricio Pochettino’s men in what has largely been a season of struggle.
Palmer has notched 25 goals and 13 assists for the Blues since his move to Stamford Bridge, but Moyes has revealed how he could have ended up in east London instead.
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City had a firm interest in signing West Ham star Paqueta at the same time Moyes was eyeing Palmer and the two clubs came close to reaching an agreement, before the Brazilian midfielder’s move collapsed over the Football Association’s investigation into alleged betting breaches.
Asked how near he got to agreeing a deal for Palmer, Moyes said: “Close. You probably can imagine the other part of it, there was maybe a possibility of somebody leaving here which might have made that work.
“I watched him playing for England U21s regularly and I thought he was a standout player. I’m always keen to bring in British players.
“The bigger problem was he played in the same position as Jarrod Bowen as well. But I had the thought about Jarrod becoming a centre forward.
“Lee Carsley, who was one of my ex-players, the England U21 manager was also giving me lots of advice on their players but Cole especially. He spoke so highly about him and what he was like. We knew he could play several different positions and, let’s be fair, he’s been a revelation for Chelsea this year.
“I was in regular contact with his agent, we were well on the road with it but it just changed at the end and we couldn’t do it.”
As for whether it’s been tough for Moyes to watch what Palmer has done at Chelsea this season, the Scot added: “No, as managers you always have lots of near misses with players
“You can probably think a few of who we were talking about signing in the summer which didn’t come off and we could have gone in a different direction. It is always the same as a manager, lots of near misses.
“He’s been outstanding. He really has been. He’s probably in with a chance of winning player of the year he’s been so good.”
