West Ham United snapped up Felipe Anderson from Lazio earlier this month.
West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has told the Daily Star that he wanted to sign Hammers new boy Felipe Anderson for Manchester City.
The Hammers have invested heavily in new signings this summer, as Pellegrini has been backed with the signings of Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Fabian Balbuena, Issa Diop, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko and Anderson.
Whilst the arrival of free agent Wilshere has grabbed headlines, the club went through a lengthy transfer saga in order to sign Anderson from Italian side Lazio.
The two clubs haggled over a fee for many, many weeks before Anderson finally completed his move to the London Stadium earlier this month, breaking West Ham’s transfer record in the process.
Anderson has cost West Ham around £40million, and he made his debut tonight as the Hammers took on Championship side in a pre-season friendly at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium.
Fans will be excited to see Anderson in action ahead of the new Premier League season, and manager Pellegrini spoke about the Brazilian playmaker in a press conference on Tuesday.
Pellegrini has now told the Daily Star that he actually wanted to sign Anderson for Manchester City, praising him for a superb season three years ago – but now the focus will turn to him impressing for West Ham now.
“I’ve followed Felipe when he was at Lazio and I wanted to bring him to Manchester City,” said Pellegrini. “He had a great season there in Lazio three years ago and when you are in clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester City you must follow always a lot of different options. Because you are allowed to bring in the player you want, so you cannot make mistakes,” he added.
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