Hammers targeted big-name strikers.
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West Ham vice-chairman Karen Brady has revealed that the club were in for Chelsea duo Romelu Lukaku and Demba Ba on transfer deadline day, according to the Daily Star.
The Hammers were known to be keen on adding another striker to their ranks before the close of the summer transfer window, and supposedly turned their attention to Lukaku and Ba late on having missed out on Juventus’ Fabio Quagliarella and Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo.
Arsenal flop Nicklas Bendtner was also a deadline day target, but in the end manager Sam Allardyce had to resort to working on a deal to re-sign the recently-released Carlton Cole, though the 29-year-old ended up failing a medical with the club.
Allardyce is likely to continue to explore a number of free agent options with the transfer window closing, but Brady revealed that Lukaku and Ba were top targets for West Ham, even though the former ended up joining Everton instead, while the latter stayed at Chelsea, also being denied a loan move to another interested party in Arsenal.
“On the final day of the window, we miss out on Chelsea strike duo Demba Ba and Romelu Lukaku, plus Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner,” Brady said.
“At 8.55pm I am told Lukaku wants to rejoin West Brom and, no matter what we do, his decision is final.
“Then, with 10 minutes to deadline, it’s revealed he is joining Everton.
“Anyway, David Sullivan and Sam Allardyce did their business early, making Andy Carroll our record signing and acquiring several other excellent players.”
West Ham’s most noteworthy signings of the summer were Carroll and Stewart Downing, both brought in from Liverpool, while Razvan Rat and Adrian were brought in on free transfers.