Moyes: We nearly Signed Diaz before Liverpool move


West Ham were "quite far down the line" towards signing Luis Diaz from Porto in January before he joined Liverpool, David Moyes has revealed.

The Hammers have been searching for a new forward for some time, and have operated with only Michail Antonio as an out-and-out striker since selling Sebastian Haller to Ajax in January 2021.

They were unable to add Jesse Lingard to their ranks after his successful loan spell last season and the one attacking signing they did complete, Nikola Vlasic, has started only four Premier League games.

Sky Sports News reported West Ham were keen to sign Flamengo forward Gabriel Barbosa towards the end of the January window, without success, and Moyes himself has now confirmed he held talks with Diaz during the January transfer window, before Liverpool stole in to bring him to Anfield on Deadline Day.

I spoke to Luis Diaz on the phone, we were quite far down the line to sign him from Porto," Moyes said. "My understanding was that Liverpool planned to come in in the summer, so we thought we'd try and get him in January. I don't know if that affected Liverpool's decision, but he's a really good player and we didn't get him.

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