Daishawn Redan admits that West Ham United wanted to sign him before he opted to join Premier League giants Chelsea from Ajax, speaking to FunX on YouTube.
Back in 2019, when an 18-year-old Redan decided to give up on his Stamford Bridge dreams, The Sun reported that The Hammers were eyeing up an £8.5 million deal that would have seen the teenager make the ten-mile journey across the English capital.
That was not the first time West Ham had shown an interest however.
Redan was also on their radar in 2017, when Amsterdam-born forward turned down the chance to sign a contract extension with the biggest club in Dutch football.
“Ajax wanted to give me a contract but there were also other clubs that were interested in me: Manchester United, Leipzig, West Ham United,” explains Redan.
“I visited all those clubs but I made my choice after I saw the training (facilities) at Chelsea. I thought: ‘I can really develop here’.”
Did Daishawn Redan make a mistake choosing Chelsea?
Redan, who has represented the Netherlands at U21 level, scored a hatful of goals for Chelsea’s youth sides but never came close to a first-team debut.
The jet-heeled youngster joined Hertha Berlin in Germany two years ago, though he has found regular minutes hard to come by at the Olimpiastadion too.
While West Ham are chasing qualification for the Champions League group-stages for the first time in their history, Redan’s current club would bite your hand off if you offered them 16th place right now.
PEC Zwolle, who signed the striker on loan last summer, are rock-bottom of the 18-team Eredivisie table. What’s more, they are eight points adrift of safety with just one win in their last 16 games.
Redan, meanwhile, has scored just twice in 10 Eredivisie matches for a Zwolle side in need of a miracle as they look to pull off the greatest of all great escapes.
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