Udinese signed 18-year-old Idrissa Gueye from Metz late in the summer transfer window on a loan with an obligation to buy. It has now emerged that West Ham United and Manchester City also tried to sign the teenager.
The Pozzo family group technical director Gianluca Nani has a hand in signings at Udinese and has spoken to Messaggero Veneto about the Italian club’s transfers in the summer window.
When asked specifically about Gueye, he revealed that West Ham and Manchester City were monitoring the forward and landing him is a big deal for Udinese.
He said, relayed by TuttoUdinese: “Gueye is a boy with the ‘X factor’, another classic Udinese move, given that he was being followed by clubs like Manchester City, West Ham, and Borussia Dortmund.”
Nani further claimed that signing players like Gueye is one of Udinese’s main goals.
“One of our goals is to continue investing in young players , as is the club’s hallmark, pairing them with more ready players.”
The youngster has already played for the Senegal national team and last season, he scored five times in 17 Ligue 2 appearances for Metz.
Gueye has a lot of potential, having made his debut for Senegalese side Generation Foot at only 16.
While West Ham and Manchester City have missed out on the talent, Udinese regularly sell their best players on – as evidenced by Lorenzo Lucca’s move to Napoli and Jaka Bijol’s move to Leeds United.
This shows that the Hammers and the Citizens can still have a chance of signing Gueye, if things go right for him in Italy.