Sebastien Haller insists he has no regrets about leaving West Ham United ahead of Ajax’s Champions League round-of-16 clash with Benfica on Tuesday night, speaking to Wettbasis.
Glancing at Haller’s CV, that ill-fated spell at West Ham stands out like the proverbial sore thumb. The Critters 3 on Leonardo di Caprio’s otherwise mesmerising filmography.
Haller scored goals for fun at Utrecht and Eintracht Frankfurt. And, since joining Ajax in a club-record £22 million deal in January 2020, the silky centre-forward has found the net 45 times in just 56 games. Only the irrepressible Robert Lewandowski has scored more goals in this season’s Champions League than Haller (11 in six starts).
So what the hell went wrong at the London Stadium? Why did Haller, throughout most of his time in claret and blue, look like a man who couldn’t hit a barn door with a tuba, let alone a banjo?
What might’ve been at West Ham?
“I was just unlucky with a coach (David Moyes) who had a different idea,” explains Haller.
The Frenchman joined West Ham for £45 million and departed, less than two years later, for half-price.
“My style of play just didn’t fit (Moyes’) system. Accordingly, I was aware that I had no prospects and would therefore hardly be used,” Haller adds.
“He needed a different type of striker. Sitting on the bench was not allowed to become a permanent condition. Then, suddenly, the offer came from Ajax, which I saw as a gift.
“An opportunity that I absolutely wanted to seize and that I have not regretted for a second.”
Few would have expected, when Haller arrived for a fee just shy of £50 million, that he’d spend much of his time at West Ham watching on from the sidelines, relegated to the role of expensive substitute by a man who was plying his trade at right-back not so long ago.
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