Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori has admitted that he could have joined West Ham United in the summer – but the offer from the Hammers came too late in the transfer window.
The Irons were in the market for defensive reinforcements in the mid-year window, especially after a leaky defence in 2019-20 saw the club pushed towards the relegation zone.
While West Ham ended up signing Craig Dawson from West Bromwich Albion instead, a deal for Tomori was on the cards also, according to the player.
The Hammers came in with a late bid to sign the 23-year-old, but he has admitted that a switch to the London Stadium couldn’t happen due to the rushed nature of the offer.
“I was ready to go and I wasn’t allowed to because the manager said I was in his plans,” he told The Telegraph.
“Then, a few hours before the deadline, I got a call saying the manager had said I could go to West Ham and it was a shock because this hadn’t been in the conversation at all.
“I like to think I’m pretty logical and I think things through and, together with my dad and my agent, my plan had been that if Everton didn’t happen, I had to be prepared to stay at Chelsea.
“By the time the West Ham offer came, it was too late to just switch that mentality with no time to think about it.”
Reported West Ham target Tomori ended up making a loan move to AC Milan in January, where he has been part of the Rossoneri’s push to win the Serie A title.
The Chelsea defender would have been an impressive addition for West Ham, with his physical attributes and reading of the game impressing during loan stints at other clubs.
The Hammers have showed more steel and grit in defence this season, despite missing out on a number of major transfer targets in the summer, with the club sitting in fifth place in the Premier League table before this weekend’s action.
West Ham face London rivals Tottenham in the Sunday early kick-off, with a victory having the potential to fire the club into the Champions League qualification berths.