Barely a week has passed since West Ham’s Jonathan David saga was declared over but there has been a stunning twist which make the striker’s recent comments look very interesting indeed.
They say with West Ham it is the hope that kills you.
But without hope there is often not much else for Hammers fans to live off.
Especially over the last 18 months of decline following a memorable few years.
The big West Ham hope coming into the summer transfer window was striker Jonathan David.
The tables have well and truly turned for West Ham and David in the last year.
New signs of life for West Ham’s Jonathan David hopes
The Hammers’ interest in David dates all the way back to 2021 – when the club was enjoying a meteoric rise under David Moyes.
The 25-year-old Canadian has been linked with a move to the London Stadium in every single window since bar none.
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Previously the big question was whether David was good enough for West Ham.
The club’s former manager didn’t think so, with Moyes rejecting the chance to bring David to West Ham for just £20m in the summer of 2023.
Now the question is whether the Hammers are good enough for David.
Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images
Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images
Graham Potter’s big hope was that David could be convinced to be the leading light of his West Ham rebuild.
And that the Hammers could lure him with London life, big wages, Premier League football and the guarantee of being a starter week in, week out – something he won’t necessarily get at many of Europe’s elite clubs who have also been on his tail.
West Ham have allegedly hosted David’s agents at the London Stadium on more than one occasion as part of a charm offensive to try and sign one of the best free agents on the market this summer.
It is that status which has made David look like a pipedream for the Hammers, though.
A pipedream that looked like it was killed stone dead just a week ago.
But in the words of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather III; ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in’.
Because David’s West Ham comments have suddenly taken on new meaning after a stunning twist.
Last week a top journalist West Ham were one of six Premier League clubs – along with Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Newcastle and Liverpool – to have made official offers to the Canadian striker.
It was claimed he rejected all of those Premier League offers and was set for a move to Italian champions Napoli or Juventus.
But it was only West Ham that were singled out by the striker and his camp when rebuffing English interest.
West Ham head coach Graham Potter and Canada striker Jonathan David
Credit: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Omar Vega/Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
David praised Potter’s West Ham plans and now Italy move is off
In officially rejecting a move to east London, David let it be known he was very impressed by Potter’s vision for West Ham.
Given the Hammers have been chasing David longer than any other club, it seems the player and his representatives wanted that appraisal communicated to the Hammers and their fans.
Now there has been yet another twist in the David soap opera.
And those comments will have Hammers fans dreaming they still have a puncher’s chance of somehow winning the race for the 178-goal star.
Because Football Italia claims David’s move to Italy has collapsed when it was on the verge of being agreed.
And now the longstanding Hammers target is reportedly ‘closer to a foreign destination’.
A foreign destination in Italy could well mean the Premier League of course.
That gives West Ham hope.
Although a dose of realism is needed which means fans should not get too excited.
The Hammers are one of only two clubs of the Premier League six where David would be a guaranteed starter.
The other would be bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
And West Ham may need to steel themselves for a real body blow of missing out on David to Spurs by virtue of the fact they can offer him Champions League football.
Given his praise of Potter’s plans for the club, though, West Ham’s faintest of hopes live on – for now at least.