West Ham boss David Moyes is understood to have had a late change of heart when deciding between Said Benrahma and Josh King, before finally coming down in favour of the Brentford playmaker.
The deal which appears to have brought Benrahma to the London Stadium is expected to be officially announced on the club website later today
As explained on CandH earlier in the week Moyes was known to be very keen on King but the Bournemouth hitman’s personal terms eventually proved too rich for the Hammers blood.
He would have cost around £18 million with wages nearly double those of Benrahma.
Conversations between the manager and board continued to a late stage before Moyes – who was always given the last word on which player would be bought – eventually became persuaded the club should invest in the four years younger midfield playmaker.
Carlo Ancelotti was also keen proving that the 28-year-old Norwegian international is a player strongly approved of by top bosses.
Both Aston Villa and an unnamed European Champions League club are also admirers with the latter keen to get him on a January pre-contract.
King’s personal terms are understood to have started as high as £80k a week whilst Benrahma’s were finalised at around £45k.
Thanks for the article Hugh – it is good to know that ultimately Benrahma was Moyes choice
I might be terribly old fashioned but I really wish that the media (including C&H) would stop revealing players salaries – I think that this has the potential to stir jealousy in the dressing room – and can result in unfair criticism of the player (who didn’t really hold a gun to the head of the club)
Here I think of Jack Wilshire – I agree that he was a player we should not have bought and certainly not on a three year contract – but the vitriol towards him might have been a lot less if we were not constantly reminded that he was on 100K a week
(Ducks to avoid inflying brickbats)
Sorry if that displeases Zaham. We try to run as a newspaper and give all we have with a very stromng hammers bias of course
No problem I know that I am fighting a losing battle here 😉