West Ham came extremely close to signing a Champions League winner.

Over the years, West Ham have narrowly missed out on many big-name players. Neymar, Gyokeres, Darwin Nunez, Lacazette are just some of the players the club came close to signing at one point or another.

While certainly not on the same level as any of those mentioned, Champions League winner Ryan Bertrand has claimed he came incredibly close to joining the Hammers under Sam Allerdyce.

“Yeah, a few offers. West Ham at the time. And that was a bit of a weird deal. Weird, weird deal,” Bertrand told Business of Sport.

“I think Allardyce was there, and I think he just brought Cresswell from Ipswich. But then the owners wanted to bring me in. I don’t want to be that guy where the ownership brought me in and the manager’s like, ‘I’ll play him, but I just brought my guy in’. It was just weird. And there was a few others.”

Given how successful Cresswell was in claret and blue, Bertrand probably made the right decision and you do have to respect wanting to play for a mayer who actually wants you.