£800,000 player claims Slaven Bilic wanted him at West Ham United

West Bromwich Albion winger Kamil Grosicki has told Sport.pl that Slaven Bilic wanted to sign him when he was in charge of West Ham United.

Grosicki joined West Brom from Championship rivals Hull City in the January transfer window for a fee reported by The Hull Daily Mail to be worth £800,000.

Bilic, who was appointed the West Brom manager in the summer of 2019, was in charge of West Ham from the summer of 2015 until November 2017.

Grosicki told Sport.pl: “I have obvious advantages, such as speed. I can give you an advantage in a difficult moment of the match and reverse the game if something is not going our way.

“Slaven Bilic was looking for such a player. He had me in his notebook for a long time. After Euro 2012, he wanted to bring me to Lokomotiv Moscow, where he became a coach after parting with the Croatian team.

“Then there was a topic when he was at West Ham, but I didn’t go to London. In the end, we managed to meet after eight years of stalking!”

Stats

Grosicki made 28 appearances in the Championship for Hull this season before his move to West Brom in January, scoring six goals and providing five assists in the process, according to WhoScored.

During the 2018-19 campaign, the Poland international winger has made 35 starts and four substitute appearances in the league for the Tigers, scoring nine goals and providing 12 assists in the process, according to WhoScored.

Back in 2017-18, the 31-year-old made 22 starts and 15 substitute appearances in the league for Hull, scoring nine goals and providing five assists in the process, according to WhoScored.

West Brom are at the top of the Championship table at the moment with 59 points from 31 matches.