The Hammers spent all summer searching for a striker, whilst Benteke has three goals in five league games for Crystal Palace.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has admitted, as quoted by BT Sport, that the club wanted to sign Christian Benteke in the summer transfer window but could not strike a deal.
The Hammers spent the entire summer transfer window trying to sign a top-class striker to solve their attacking problems from last season.
They spent £20 million on Swansea City star Andre Ayew and brought in Italy international Simone Zaza on loan from Juventus, but Ayew suffered a serious injury on his debut and Zaza has failed to find the net in any of his five appearances to date.
Meanwhile, Benteke was signed by Crystal Palace for an initial fee of £27 million, and has begun paying that outlay back immediately by scoring three goals in his first five Premier League games for the Eagles.
Bilic has now admitted that he and the Irons wanted to bring Benteke to the London Stadium from Liverpool this summer, but explained that he did not even get as far as speaking directly to the player as striking a deal turned out to be difficult.
The Croatian boss said, via BT Sport: “Benteke was one of the players on our list but he was also on the list of many clubs. He went to Palace and now it’s irrelevant because he is their player and we have got our strikers.
“I didn’t speak to him. We just wanted to know the situation and we couldn’t get him basically, it was hard to get him.
“I can say how good he is as a striker and the impact he has made. In the first three games they were struggling but now they are improving with him. But we can’t just be focused on him because there are many players there who can turn the game.”
West Ham fans may be ruing the club’s failure to sign the Belgian international, given how their season has gone so far.
The Hammers have managed just eight goals in their first seven league games this season, and it seems fair to suggest that having a target man such as Benteke fit and firing would make a huge difference.
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