West Ham United missed a number of opportunities to sign Chelsea-owned Dortmund loanee Michy Batshuayi over the past two years.
Michy Batshuayi looks like a player transformed in the yellow of Borussia Dortmund.
The 24-year-old took his tally to five in three for his new club with a quite brilliant double against Atalanta in the Europa League on Thursday night as he sets about showing parent club Chelsea what they could have had.
But it is not just the stalling Premier League champions who should be asking why Batshuayi is not banging in the goals for them.
West Ham United, after all, have had more than enough chances to bring the Belgian striker to the London Stadium and their failure to do a deal at any point over the last 25 months should have fans once again questioning owners David Gold and David Sullivan.
According to the Guardian, West Ham made a bid of £31.5 million for Batshuayi in the summer of 2016 before losing out to Chelsea. And the report adds that this was not the Hammers’ first attempt to bring Batshuayi to London, having failed in an approach the previous January.
The Telegraph claim that West Ham were keen on Batshuayi again last summer before plumping for the hit-and-miss Javier Hernandez, and the Sun added once again just last month that there was still a chance he could don the claret and blue.
And while ‘Batman’ was barely given a run in Chelsea’s starting XI, he is showing just what a talented striker he is during a fantastic start to life in Dortmund.
It was not just the ruthless nature in which Batshuayi took his match-winning double against Atalanta, but his superb link-up play and intelligence in possession which caught the eye. It was, whisper it, a truly top class centre-forward performance.
One that West Ham will probably never see from him in their colours.
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