According to Football.London, Sporting Lisbon’s £40million asking price wasn’t only the reason West Ham failed to land William Carvalho before transfer deadline.
The Hammers were also wary of signing a player who could take at least a month to hit the ground running as a result of his lack of fitness.
However, the 25-year-old midfielder proved his match sharpness despite playing competitively just once this season, scoring a goal and assisting another during Portugal’s 5-1 shellacking of Faroe Islands in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
West Ham were keen on Carvalho all summer, but a move never came close to happening, with Sporting Lisbon refusing to let their man go on the cheap as per their valuation.
Football.London was told: “He just got too expensive and you have to say no sometimes.
“Also, he’s not trained for three weeks. He has done no pre-season training – so he might have needed four to six weeks to be ready to play for us.”
The Hammers could still have a chance to land Carvalho by January, though, as the player would try to push for another exit come winter, as per Portuguese daily A Bola (via K.U.M.B).
While the club took a decision not to meet his price due to doubts over what the Euros 2016 winner can bring to the table, their stand could change come January should things refuse to completely get better following 3 back-to-back EPL losses.
