David Moyes has admitted that West Ham made a £50m bid for Kalvin Phillips in January.
The Hammers tried to sign the England international at the turn of the year and he has now moved to Manchester City for a fee of £45m. 
The Irons were also interested in doing a deal for Raphinha in January but he now looks set to move to either Barcelona or Chelsea in this window.
Thus far, the club have signed Nayef Aguerd, Alphonse Areola, and Flynn Downes.
And Moyes has now told the Daily Mail that the club did, indeed, make an offer for Phillips.
He said: “We bid more than that.
“We’re trying to be competitive with the big teams. If we can’t, we have to find another way of keeping up with them.”
Moyes has confirmed, though, that he intends to add more players to his squad.
The Mail reports that West Ham used the third-fewest number of players throughout the season, and he has now revealed that he does intend to add more new signings before the transfer deadline.
He added: “West Ham supporters are no mugs. They know when a player is committed. In the great old days, this club had top England internationals.
“We’ve certainly got one — in Declan Rice — and hopefully we’re on the way to having a second top one — in Jarrod Bowen.
“We’ve lost Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko, some other boys from the squad, so we’re well aware we need to add to it.”
This now disproves much of the nonsense that was spouted by some of our finest around that time… and after.
We cannot kidnap players, hold them at gunpoint and get them to sign for us.
The Variables that many don’t see or understand are the wishes of player and the selling club. They have a say in the matter and who knows how long Kalvin Phillips move to Citeh has been in the pipeline?
There is much to understand by reading between the lines of Moyes’s comments.
We’ve had BeIN Sports in my house for a couple of years now so I’ve gotten to watch some French football. If you’re going to pay £50 mil for Phillips then you have to pay £50 mil for Onana at Lille.
While I think Phillips is a little better of the two right now, Onana is only 20 and just needs a bit of tactical discipline and you’re looking at another Vieira.
Rice, Onana, and Soucek would create one of the best midfield trios in the premier league.
It could go along way to convincing Rice to stay if the kid can make the switch successfully, and also give DM tactical flexibility to get Soucek forward more.
I know things aren’t ever that simple, but I think it’s a signing that could really pay off.