Sevilla refused to sell West Ham United target Youssef En-Nesyri during the January transfer window due to a lack of convincing offers for the £35 million-rated striker, sporting director Monchi told Canal Sur.
David Moyes made no effort to hide his desire for a new centre-forward.
But, despite having three weeks to replace Sebastien Haller following the Frenchman’s £20 million move to Ajax, only one player arrived at the London Stadium before Monday’s deadline – attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard.
Links with Graziano Pelle, Adam Hlozek, Abdallah Sima and more came and went, while a bid for La Liga sensation En-Nesyri fell well short of Sevilla’s demands.
According to the Guardian, West Ham offered £22.5 million for the Morocco international.
Sevilla, however, wanted closer to £35 million for a man who has outscored everyone except Luis Suarez in Spain’s top flight this season.
“(The bids) did not convince us at all and the story ended there,” said legendary talent-spotter Monchi, who signed En Nesyri from Leganes just 12 months ago (ABC Sevilla).
“What we were offered did not meet our expectations.”
En-Nesyri has scored two hat-tricks in Sevilla’s last five games, inspiring hard-earned victories over Real Sociedad and Cadiz.
But Monchi believes there is still plenty of room for improvement, pointing out that his 16-goal top-scorer still needs to add consistency to his game.
En-Nesyri will not be short of chances between now and the end of the season, however, after Sevilla signed Papu Gomez from Atalanta. The Argentine wing wizard broke the all-time record for the most assists in a single Serie A campaign (16) in 2019/20.
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