Slaven Bilic has confirmed the story brought to you by ClaretandHugh seven days ago.
We revealed that our own sources on December 22 that the club’s priority in this window was to “Buy British” at https://www.claretandhugh.info/exclusive-irons-january-signing-policy-explained/
And that was followed by the news that Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe was indeed a target although there were reservations whether Sunderland would allow him to walk away from the Stadium of Light.
Bilic today more or less confirmed precisely what we had told you when he said: ” You want players that are young, that are cheap. that are good players, they score goals and they have experience in the Premier League.”
He added: “You can’t have those kind of players some times because there are other clubs looking for them but yes we are trying.
“I have said it so many times, English or British players have priority because this is an English club, a British club but even more than that you need the players who have experience in the Premier League.”
The policy comes from a summer of discontent which saw many foreign players arrive and fail to settle, leading the recruitment team to settle on British stars.
Marcus Rashford – earning £32k a week would be a fine signing from every point of view and Wolves right back Dominic Iorfa is in the frame along with Carl Jenkinson.
The Hammers explored the possibility of trying to hatch a deal for Wayne Rooney but even on a wage sharing deal over a remainder of the season loan his wages were simply too big.
Why has Carl Jenkinson’s name com up as a possibility? We were glad to send him back to Arsenal and he hasn’t lived up to expectations of late under Wenger.PASS PLEASE