West Ham did make a ‘shock’ attempt to sign Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne on a free transfer, according to reports.
The Belgian international is set to leave the Etihad after 11 years when his contract expires next month, having won the Premier League six times.
TBRFootball claim the Hammers made a “shock” approach to ascertain whether De Bruyne would be interested in making the switch to the London Stadium.
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There was a temptation to stay in the Premier League for family reasons and Graham Potter’s side felt they had a chance due to the lure of living in the UK capital.
West Ham failed to land De Bruyne
The 33-year-old now looks set to join Serie A champions Napoli. Although MLS clubs and other Premier League teams (such as Liverpool and Aston Villa) have been linked with signing the player too, a switch to Italy ended up being the most attractive.
It should be noted that the salary on offer from Napoli is also substantially above what the Irons would have been prepared to pay. De Bruyne is set to earn €27m over three seasons, which includes a signing-on bonus.
Potter and Macaulay are keen to explore the free agency market
West Ham’s limited transfer funds mean that the manager and the club’s recruitment chief, Kyle Macaulay, will need to be creative when conducting business this summer.
In addition to De Bruyne, the club have also been linked with several other soon-to-be free agents, including Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters, Lille pair Angel Gomes & Jonathan David, as well as Burnley’s CJ Egan-Riley.
As we have seen with De Bruyne, though, you have to pay big salaries and signing-on fees for Bosman signings, which is not something that the Irons have traditionally offered in the past.
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