Manuel Pellegrini was desperate to bring Joan Jordan to West Ham United before the midfielder sealed a £13 million move to Sevilla instead, as reported by the Athletic.
There is something rather Mark Noble-esque about this all-action, box-to-box midfielder.
Jordan is not your classic, identikit La Liga play-maker after all. Yes, his passing range is as accurate as a Noble spot-kick, but there is more to his game than keeping possession ticking over in the middle of the park.
Like the West Ham captain, Jordan is something of a ‘jack of all trades’; strong in the tackle, an excellent set-piece taker and a goal threat from midfield.
According to the Athletic, former West Ham boss Pellegrini was hoping to see Jordan link up with Noble himself in a claret-and-blue engine room blessed with tenacity and technique.
The Hammers even offered Jordan, then of Eibar, a substantial contract at the London Stadium. But it was Sevilla who won the race, paying £13 million to sign one of the most underrated midfielders in La Liga.
Ironically enough, Pellegrini would lose his job just a few months later anyway, while Jordan ended 2019/20 season lifting the Europa League trophy into the Koln sky.
“When (sporting director Monchi) called me to Sevilla, I knew that I wanted to come,” Jordan told Estadio Deportivo in 2019.
“I had almost done it with a team from the Premier League that (would have) made me a lot more money, but my family, my wife and my parents were betting on (a move to Sevilla) – especially my father.”
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