Nottingham Forest tried to play West Ham chief David Sullivan at his own game and lost according to a journalist’s revelation over talks for a Hammers star.
The revelation sheds light on the lengths Nottingham Forest were prepared to go to in order to get their hands on the Hammers ace.
West Ham head to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest having shared many column inches with the Tricky Trees this summer.
Forest beat the Hammers to a host of alleged transfer targets including Douglas Luiz and James McAtee.
Nuno Espirito Santo has been linked as a potential replacement for Graham Potter at West Ham after a fallout with the Nottingham Forest hierarchy.
The Hammers have been trying to sign Forest midfielder Ibrahim Sangare.
Plenty of sub-plots to West Ham vs Forest
And the Premier League rivals, who meet in what has become a huge game for Potter on Sunday, were also locked in battles for French midfielder Soungoutou Magassa and Brazilian goalkeeper John Victor.
Now a journalist has made an astonishing revelation about how a tussle between the two clubs unfolded behind the scenes.
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Nottingham Forest were so desperate to secure the signing of a West Ham star this summer that they even attempted to use dark arts on Hammers chief David Sullivan.
Sullivan is not the most popular figure among West Ham fans at the best of times.
West Ham majority owner David Sullivan spotted watching the women's team in the FA Cup semi-final in 2019.
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
He has come in for fierce criticism this summer over the Hammers’ lack of transfer business.
But West Ham burst into action this week by signing superb Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes and Magassa from Monaco.
Whatever the stance on Sullivan, there is no denying he is the master of the dark arts when it comes to transfers.
Some would argue that is not necessarily a good thing.
The perfect example came just recently when Sullivan used West Ham’s interest in Botafogo goalkeeper Victor to force Leicester’s hand over a deal for Mads Hermansen.
Forest were so desperate to sign West Ham star they tried dark arts on Sullivan
Sullivan’s brinkmanship even saw Victor left publicly embarrassed as the Hammers pulled the plug on a deal while he was waiting at the airport to fly to London.
Time will tell whether West Ham made the right call on that one.
Victor has since agreed a deal to sign for Forest instead and West Ham want Hull City’s Ivor Pandur amid serious concerns over Hermansen following a poor start as the club’s new number one.
Having signed for Forest, Victor could now leave West Ham red-faced.
But Sullivan did get one over on Evangelos Marinakis and Edu when they tried to take the Hammers chief on at his own game.
New West Ham United signing Soungoutou Magassa posing for AS Monaco Portraits - UEFA Champions League 2025/26
Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Guardian reporter Jacob Steinberg has revealed Forest desperately wanted Magassa.
So much in fact that West Ham had to fend off their interest just as much as Eintracht Frankfurt, who twice tried to collapse the move.
There was a technicality with Magassa’s medical which meant West Ham had to start it from the beginning.
That made for a fraught 48 hours but West Ham eventually got their man with Magassa signing in a £17.3m deal on a four-year contract with the option of a further two years.
While signing Fernandes and pushing to keep the Magassa move alive, the Hammers were also being heavily linked with Sangare and Quinten Timber.
Forest used Sangare to get West Ham to step aside on Magassa
Some believed West Ham’s interest in Sangare stemmed from the possibility they might miss out on Magassa to Forest, which would have pushed the former further down Espirito Santo’s pecking order.
But Steinberg has revealed that in talks with West Ham, Forest chiefs rather underhandedly told Sullivan that they would let him have Sangare on one condition.
That condition being if West Ham step aside and let Forest sign Magassa.
According to Steinberg Magassa remained insistent that he wanted to join West Ham and the deal was done.
That also tallies with sudden reports that emerged claiming Forest were only interested in a permanent deal for Sangare rather than the loan with obligation offered by the Hammers.
Clearly that was not a coincidence as it came at the same time West Ham were finalising Magassa’s move.
Sullivan may justifiably have many detractors at West Ham.
But Forest chose the wrong person to try and take on using the dark arts in the transfer market.