Mohamed Simakan’s failure to join West Ham in the winter window was down to “greed” according to a French media source.
The defender was later expected to swap Strasbourg for AC Milan but no agreement was finalised when Italy’s window closed at 8pm.
L’Equipe then reported West Ham had pushed €17m forward for the player, the same as Milan’s.
Strasbourg were said to be looking for €20m, and West Ham had very little time to decide whether to match that. In the end, the Hammers appeared to move on.
That still wasn’t enough, with France Football stating Strasbourg were ‘greedy’ and had managed to convince themselves €30m+ was the fair price.
ClaretandHugh says: France Football may have come to the greed conclusion but realistically the near ritual of offering extras on top of a fee is always going to be a problem and lead to rejections from clubs. Strasbourg’s £30 million valuation may well have been over the top anyway but the Hammers – or any other outfit – will always have a better chance of getting their targets if they offer more realistic up front fees. The extras thing is something which often appears to wreck our chances of getting a deal over the line. It eventually worked in the case of Said Benrahma but has – in several cases – been responsible for failed bids. It’s interesting of course that with David Moyes stating for so long that he needed defenders that he eventually decided to go for £30 million Benrahma rather than Simakan at the same price.
