Sevilla have turned down a £33 million bid for Youssef En-Nesyri, president Jose Castro has told Cope, as translated by Fichajes.
And while he was also reluctant to identify West Ham by name the president said that En-Nesyri won’t be going anywhere in this transfer window.
“It is true several English teams have tried to sign En-Nesyri but we have no intention of selling the player right now,” Castro explains.
En-Nesyri confirmed at the weekend he had no plans to walk away from the Europa League winners just 12 months after arriving from Leganes.
And, speaking to ABC Sevilla 24 hours later, his agent admitted an offer from an unnamed Premier League club strongly reported to have been West Ham had been rejected.
David Moyes has already publicly admitted to reporters that he made an unsuccessful bid for 23-year-old.
He is likely to look again in the summer for a long term replacement for Seb Haller.
The time to make an offer is when you have identified a skillful player who is not getting a lot of playing time. If you wait until they are scoring goals, it is a bit late. And you first need to ensure he wants to play for you. Neither of those two issues seem to have been taken care of in this case.
I think this one was always a commercial setup by the Hammers. I doubt they were ever serious about getting El-Nesryi. It lets other clubs know that they have money, are willing to spend, and have alternatives.
Transfers and deal making always involves a bit of cat and mouse.