From Raphinha to Didier Drogba, Bruno Fernandes to Petr Cech, West Ham United have their fair share of regrets.
Then again, you’d struggle to find a club who don’t.
See Jack Grealish and Tottenham Hotspur, Cristiano Ronaldo and Arsenal, Robert Lewandowski and Blackburn Rovers, Radamel Falcao and Aston Villa, and many, many more.
West Ham United, had they followed the advice of Dave Worthington during his two year spell as their European scout between 2013 and 2015, may well have become home to a footballer who now tallies over 20 trophies in his personal collection.
Including a trio of Champions League titles accumulated at Real Madrid, no less.
Funnily enough, a certain Marco Asensio would actually spend second half of last season wearing claret and blue in England’s top flight.
Arriving on loan from Paris Saint-Germain during the January transfer window, Asensio made his Aston Villa debut against West Ham in the FA Cup third round. A full ten years after Worthington did what he did best; recommending one of football’s rising stars to a club who, if they could turn back the clock, probably would opt to act on that advice.
Marco Asensio during Aston Villa FC v Tottenham Hotspur FC - Premier League
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images
Dave Worthington recommended ex-Real Madrid ace Marco Asensio to West Ham United
According to The Athletic, Worthington recommended Pedro Porro, Bruno Fernandes and 2024 Ballon D’Or winner Rodri to Everton.
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Sorry Toffees fans, we probably should have included a ‘trigger warning’ there.
Worthington highlighted the talents of Manuel Neuer and future Tottenham playmaker Mousa Dembele to Chelsea. And, talk about Blackburn and Lewandowski, Karim Benzema might have become a Bolton Wanderers player had things turned out differently.
Amongst his seemingly never-ending supply of notes, meanwhile, is proof that Worthington’s eye had been grabbed by a teenage Marco Asensio during his formative years at Real Mallorca. He liked him before it was cool.
The Daily Mail even reported, back in 2014, that West Ham were looking at Asensio on the back of a season in which he played a handful of first-team games in Spain’s second tier.
A decade later, and while the harshest of critics will argue that the 38-time Spain international never quite became the world-leading talent he was supposed to – he is playing in Turkey with Fenerbahce, after all, in what are allegedly his peak years – there are not many footballers in the history of the game who would turn their noses up at his enviable trophy haul.
Chelsea legends Didier Drogba and Petr Cech could have joined the Hammers
Now, back to the aforementioned quartet at the beginning of the piece.
West Ham made a £50 million bid for Raphinha when he was still a Leeds United player. And while the Hammers do have a brilliant Brazilian of their own in Lucas Paqueta, a staggering tally of 34 goals and 26 assists last season for Barcelona capped Raphinha’s confirmation year as an elite attacking force.
Per Sky Sports, a £20 million offer was lodged for a pre-Manchester United Bruno Fernandes too.
And, before ripping up the Premier League down the road at Chelsea, both Didier Drogba and Petr Cech had admirers in East London too.
“I was at Guingamp at that time,” Drogba would later recall, via The Athletic. “I’d just arrived at the club and they [West Ham] came to my house and spoke, but it didn’t happen. I wasn’t ready to go.”
“I was interested in bringing Petr over to England when he was 19,” Ludek Miklosko, the Hammers’ former goalkeeping coach, explained. “But I eventually decided that it would be a mistake.
“He was not yet ready for English football and needed to continue his development back in the Czech Republic. He would have been second-string behind David James but that would have been no good for him.
“Eventually, he signed for Rennes and was one of the best goalkeepers in French football.”