Rival manager admits Serie A star wants to join Arsenal and snubbed their massive offer
Sep 10, 2016 at 11:23 AM
West Ham Slaven Bilic has revealed that he failed in a move for AC Milan’s Carlos Bacca because the striker wanted to join Arsenal.
And Bilic has now revealed West Ham failed in a move for Bacca because the Colombian was waiting for an offer from either Arsenal or Atletico Madrid, but the Croatian boss added he was happy with his summer dealings.
“In this transfer window we tried to raise the bar by signing players who would have been unthinkable for our club just a few years ago,” Bilic told Italian outlet MilanNews.
“But as we’ve shown with the new stadium and training ground, we have the ambition to grow as a club.
“For certain champions, it was not ‘normal’ for them to be on our shortlist even two or three years ago.
“On our list were Lacazette, Zaza, Bacca, and Batshuayi, but I knew it would be difficult to buy them.
“We wanted Zaza in September of last year, but Juventus had no intention of selling him, then we turned our attention to Lacazette and then Bacca, but we weren’t the Colombian’s first choice.
“He was waiting for Arsenal or Atletico Madrid and then ultimately decided to stay at Milan, but we’re very happy because we got Zaza, who was our first choice a year ago.”