West Ham United rejected in late move to sign Tyrell Malacia
West Ham United could have sorted their left-back problems much earlier than they did over the summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Irons were supposedly close to swooping in at the last moment to sign Feyenoord defender Tyrell Malacia before his move to Lyon but he turned them down as a result of his agreement with the French side.
But Manchester United then appeared and Malacia opted to head to Old Trafford where he has already made himself the first choice left-back over Luke Shaw.
“All the fans know that it was done with Olympique Lyonnais, it was a Friday and it was done for the player to travel on the Monday,” romano said on the Here We Go podcast.
“Then Manchester United jumped into it on the Sunday night, and so on Monday they changed the story and signed Tyrell Malacia, who is doing great now with Erik ten Hag, Ten Hag was really happy with his potential signing.
“But I can reveal that on the Saturday, West Ham – they were looking for a left back before signing Emerson Palmieri – had direct contact with Malacia. It was a direct contact also between David Moyes and the player’s side, but the player had his decision made on Lyon, so he said no to West Ham.
“Then on Sunday night, Manchester United appeared and signed Malacia.”
Missed opportunity
Having seen how quickly Malacia has worked his way into Erik Ten Hag’s starting XI at Old Trafford, David Moyes may be regretting that he waited so long to make an offer to sign him from Feyenoord.
He could have been bound for the London Stadium way before Lyon took the advantage if the club had made an effort as soon as the window opened to solve one of their problem areas.
It is also a sign that despite United’s struggles over the past few years, the draw of the Red Devils is still far beyond that of the Irons and there is still a very long way to go to get to that level of desire.
Moyes did eventually bring in a left-back in the shape of Emerson Palmieri from Chelsea but he cost the same as Malacia would have done and if given the choice, Moyes would surely prefer the youngster with potential over the fourth-choice at Stamford Bridge.