West Ham United seemingly pipped Napoli to Pablo Fornals.
West Ham United fans are excited about the arrival of Spanish playmaker Pablo Fornals – and he’s opened up about how he could have moved elsewhere.
With West Ham seeking a ball-playing midfielder to aid Declan Rice and Mark Noble, they were linked with a whole host of targets, but Fornals ticked the boxes.
Fornals had been on the books of Villarreal and Malaga during Manuel Pellegrini’s time there, whilst director of football Mario Husillos also knows him from Malaga.
Last week, West Ham struck a £24million deal (The Guardian) to sign Fornals, handing him a five-year contract at the London Stadium.
Supporters will be desperate to see him play in a West Ham shirt, even more so now having seen him score a superb goal for Spain’s under-21’s on Wednesday evening.
After the game, Fornals spoke to the press in Italy, and was asked whether he’d had contact with Napoli in recent weeks, given that they wanted to sign him.
Fornals admitted to Tuttomercatoweb that Champions League side Napoli were indeed keen to sign him, but they took too long to decide on a move, and that allowed West Ham to get in and hijack their move, offering him a new challenge.
“Napoli were interested, there were contacts, but the Azzurri didn’t decide and I therefore had to think about continuing my career looking for new challenges,” said Fornals.
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