N’Golo Kante, Neymar and Didier Drogba are among the players who could have joined West Ham United.
Back in 2013, then-Hammers boss Sam Allardyce was looking for a new goalkeeper. BBC Sport reported that West Ham were on the verge of signing former England international Paul Robinson, in a move which would have reunited him with his former Blackburn boss Allardyce. With Stephen Henderson heading to Blackburn in exchange, it seemed that the deal was all but done – only for the move to fall through, and Allardyce missed out on the ex-Leeds and Tottenham star.
In the summer of 2014, West Ham snapped up a right back as Carl Jenkinson joined the club on loan from Arsenal. However, they also made a move to try and sign Micah Richards from Manchester City, with the defender telling ESPN that he snubbed the Hammers in favour of Fiorentina. Now on the fringes of the Aston Villa side in the Championship, Richards once had so much potential, but West Ham will feel like they dodged a bullet here.
One of the greatest centre backs in English football history, Tony Adams was a one-club man, racking up more than 500 appearances for Arsenal whilst winning four league titles and three FA Cups. However, that one club could have been West Ham, as Adams told the Hammers’ official website back in 2014 that he almost joined friend Steve Potts at West Ham as a teenager, but chose to join Arsenal instead due to Terry Burton’s presence with the Gunners.
After injuries to James Collins and James Tomkins, West Ham are looking for a new centre back in January 2014, and Sam Allardyce had identified Everton’s Johnny Heitinga as the man he wanted. The Dutchman, who had played more than 200 times for Ajax, turned out for Atletico Madrid, made more than 100 Premier League appearances for Everton and played in a World Cup final for the Netherlands, was seen as experienced cover in the heart of Allardyce’s defence, and with no future at Everton, the Hammers made their move. Unfortunately for them, Heitinga rejected the move (BBC Sport), suggesting that he wasn’t convinced about the move and it isn’t always about money, before joining West Ham’s London rivals Fulham weeks later.
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante
Last summer, West Ham were looking for cover at right back and left back, and identified Davide Santon as a man who could play in both positions. The Inter Milan ace, formerly of Newcastle, was lined up for a summer move to East London, with a £460,000 loan fee agreed as well as a £5million permanent option if he impressed with the Hammers. Santon’s move collapsed though, as the injury-prone defender failed a medical with West Ham, as reported by Sky Sports, and the deal was cancelled as the Hammers went on to sign Arthur Masuaku and Alvaro Arbeloa instead.
N’Golo Kante has enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence following his 2015 move from Caen to Leicester City. The Frenchman was the key player in the Foxes’ Premier League title win, and earned a huge move to Chelsea last summer, where he could win the title again. It could have all been so different though, as Slaven Bilic revealed to the London Evening Standard in April 2016 that West Ham were ‘quite close’ to signing Kante in the summer of 2015, but West Ham simply had too many players in his position to seal the deal – and the Hammers will feel that they really missed out here.
West Ham have a mixed history with Argentinian players; Carlos Tevez and Manuel Lanzini have been real hits in East London over the years, but the likes of Lionel Scaloni, Javier Mascherano, Mauro Zarate and Jonathan Calleri all flopped in claret and blue. Three years after Tevez left the club for Manchester United in 2007, West Ham attempted to land a big name in Argentinian football by targeting star playmaker Joan Roman Riquelme. The former Barcelona and Villarreal ace, known as one of the most skilled midfielders in the world at the time, was playing for Boca Juniors but was edging towards a move to West Ham in 2010, according to his agent Barry McIntosh. He, as quoted by the Daily Mail, suggested that Riquelme would rather have joined West Ham than Manchester United, as the challenge and vision of the club appealed to him. In the end, West Ham missed out and Riquelme penned a new deal with Boca Juniors, as the Hammers’ attempts to land a major coup failed.
Barcelona’s Neymar
Known as one of the world’s best players, Neymar has hit 92 goals in just 162 games for Barcelona, whilst becoming Brazilian football’s poster boy. The 24-year-old could have been playing in a different claret and blue strip though, as West Ham made a £16million bid to sign Neymar from Santos in 2010, according to the Daily Mail. The player’s agent, Wagner Ribeiro, was even quoted by Sky Sports as saying that talks had been held with the Hammers, but the deal didn’t go through, and Neymar joined Barcelona in a blockbuster move three years later, having hit 136 goals in 225 games for Santos. All credit to West Ham for trying, but it was always going to be tough to land one of the world’s top young talents.
Alex Iwobi has impressed for Arsenal this season, notching three goals and three assists in all competitions. The 20-year-old is being tipped for a bright future with the Gunners, but earlier this season he revealed that he could have actually joined London rivals West Ham. As quoted by Football 365, Iwobi stated that he and team-mate Chuba Akpom both trained with Arsenal and West Ham from ages six to nine, but chose to join the Gunners as they’re a ‘bigger club’ than the Hammers.
A Premier League legend with 104 goals in 254 appearances for Chelsea, Didier Drogba became a Blues hero following his 2004 move from Marseille. However, he could have been turning out for West Ham following an attempt to sign him in 2002. Drogba was showing promise with Guingamp when, as Drogba told Sky Sports earlier this season, West Ham came to speak to him about a move. Unfortunately for West Ham, Drogba wasn’t ready to leave France at that point, and they missed out on the Ivorian – only to see him become a Premier League star just years later.
Manchester United have had great strikers over the years, and Ruud van Nistelrooy was one of the best. The Dutchman hit a stunning 150 goals in 219 games for the Red Devils, and went on to play for Real Madrid, Hamburg and Malaga after leaving Old Trafford in 2006. In January 2010, West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan was quoted by The Guardian as saying that he offered Van Nistelrooy £100,000-a-week to join West Ham, in what would have been a stunning move. Unfortunately though, Van Nistelrooy snubbed the Hammers and chose to head to Germany with Hamburg, leaving West Ham to wonder what might have been.
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