David Moyes has revealed that West Ham were close to signing Cole Palmer before his move to Chelsea last summer.
West Ham held talks with Manchester City over a deal to sign Palmer after the 21-year-old expressed a desire to leave the Premier League champions in search of regular first-team football.
The Hammers had been in negotiations with City over a deal to sell Lucas Paqueta, which ultimately failed to materialise, and Moyes has revealed Palmer was ‘close’ to heading to East London in the opposite direction.
Palmer has been one of the players of the Premier League season and has scored 20 goals in the top flight this season, one behind Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Palmer and Chelsea this weekend, Moyes revealed how close he came to landing the forward.
“[We were] close, close,” Moyes said. “You can probably imagine the other part of it, where there was a possibility of somebody leaving here which might have made that work.
“I was in regular contact with his agent and we were well on the road with it but it just changed at the end and we couldn’t do it.
“I watched him playing for England U21s regularly and I thought he was their standout player. I was always keen to bring in British players.
“The bigger problem was that he played in the same position as Jarrod Bowen but I had the thought about Jarrod becoming a centre-forward.
“Lee Carsley, who was one of my ex-players [at Everton] as well and the England U21 manager, was always giving me advice on their players and Cole especially.
“He spoke so highly about him and what he was like. We knew he could play several positions and let’s be fair, he’s been a revelation this year for Chelsea.”
