We all know what happened the last time West Ham opened the chequebook and poached a Marseille midfielder. The Hammers, after signing Dimitri Payet, finished 7th in the Premier League and qualified for the Europa League, and they could have done similar with another OM ace.
This summer, the Hammers have found themselves linked with a move for Morgan Sanson, the French midfielder at Marseille, though, has recently ruled himself out of any potential move away with his recent comments to RMC Sport where he talks about his excitement ahead of the new season.
Before that, though, Sky Sports had reported back in June that the Frenchman was on Manuel Pellegrini’s radar, despite the fact that his club were demanding 35m euros for him as they looked to offload some players having missed out on Champions League football.
It was later reported by L’Equipe that the Frenchman was one of those who Marseille were looking to get rid of as they looked to meet financial fair play requirements, and they’d already sanctioned the exit of Lucas Ocampos to Sevilla before the report.
Sanson would have been perfect at The London Stadium too. The Frenchman, at the age of 24-years-old, has plenty to give in his career and will still have resale value in a few years time. He’s fresh off the back of a season in which he grabbed five goals and three assists in Ligue 1, Transfermarkt, and with West Ham short in midfield he looked like an ideal signing.
The option to bring in Sanson in a future window may still be there, and Manuel Pellegrini would do well to back in for him later down the line, but for now it will be just a matter of what could have been for the Hammers, as the Frenchman will remain at Marseille whilst the Irons go about their season with the aim of getting into Europe.
