West Ham United sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax in January, and surprisingly chose not to sign a replacement for him.
The Hammers ended the window without adding a new striker, meaning it should be a top priority for West Ham come the summer.
One name West Ham considered was Lassina Traore, with De Telegraaf reporting that a move for the Ajax man was considered.
Nothing happened in the end, and a strange situation surrounding Haller may have just dented West Ham’s hopes of signing Traore even further.
A computer error – at least according to Ajax boss Erik ten Hag – means Haller isn’t included in Ajax’s Europa League squad, in a twist that any Football Manager player knows doesn’t end well.
Haller now won’t play any European action for the remainder of the season, meaning Traore is now in line to feature regularly for Ten Hag.
The 20-year-old has been outstanding this season with eight goals and eight assists in just 16 first-team games, and he now looks primed for a key role when Haller can’t play.
If Traore continues his superb form, Ajax surely won’t want to let him go at the end of the season, or his price tag will rise at the very least.
That’s really not what West Ham will have wanted; if anything, they may have hoped that selling Haller to Ajax would eventually help their cause with Traore.
Instead, this bizarre twist in Amsterdam means Traore will be very important between now and the summer, and could end up out of West Ham’s reach.
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