West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has revealed that the prospective move for Carlos Bacca did not come into fruition due to Arsenal’s interest
It was no secret that West Ham United were keen on signing a new striker over the summer and after much speculation, the Hammers were finally able to land the services Simone Zaza from Juventus during the final few days of the transfer window.
The arrival of Zaza is most certainly a boost for West Ham but it was widely believed that the main target for the Hammers throughout the window was AC Milan star Carlos Bacca.
Reports had claimed that West Ham were in discussions to sign Bacca for a long time but despite the protracted negotiations, the transfer evidently did not come into fruition.
Now West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has gone on to confirm that he was indeed interested in signing Bacca this summer but revealed that the transfer was not possible due to the striker’s desire to join Premier League side Arsenal instead.
Bacca was wanted by West Ham
“In this transfer window we tried to raise the bar by signing players who would have been unthinkable for our club just a few years ago,” Bilic told Italian outlet Milan News.
“But as we’ve shown with the new stadium and training ground, we have the ambition to grow as a club. For certain champions it was not ‘normal’ for them to be on our shortlist even two or three years ago.
“On our list were Lacazette, Zaza, Bacca and Batshuayi, but I knew it would be difficult to buy them. We wanted Zaza in September of last year, but Juventus had no intention of selling him, then we turned our attention to Lacazette and then Bacca, but we weren’t the Colombian’s first choice.
“He was waiting for Arsenal or Atletico Madrid and then ultimately decided to stay at Milan, but we’re very happy because we got Zaza, who was our first choice a year ago.”
