West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed that the club has opted out of the race to sign Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette. The striker was subject to much speculation in the transfer window, as London neighbours Arsenal were poised to battle it out head-to-head with West Ham for securing his services. However, Bilic’s announcement of ending their pursuit comes in the light of their season-long loan signing of Jonathan Calleri from Uruguayan side Deportivo Maldonado.
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"One hundred percent we will not go for Lacazette," Bilic said, "We need a squad but I'm happy.”
Read: Argentine forward Calleri moves to West Ham
The loan move was completed courtesy of personal intervention from their club co-owner David Sullivan who ensured West Ham secured the deal for a fee of around £4m. Calleri was earlier linked with a move to clubs such as Inter Milan, Sevilla and Barcelona after a successful spell on loan at the Brazilian club São Paulo. The 22-year-old made his name at Boca Juniors and even appeared for the Argentinian national team at the Olympics.
Speaking about the latest recruit and adding concerns of having to resolve work permit issues before he is available for Premier League opener selection against Chelsea, Bilic said, "We signed Calleri, unfortunately for him but good for us Argentina were knocked out of the Olympics last night, they didn't pass the group stage so he should be here with us - not today, not tomorrow, but pretty soon, depending on work permit or whatever. He is a top striker and we have a good balance in the squad."
Read also: Ghana striker Ayew leaves Swansea for West Ham
Slaven Bilic has strengthened his squad with fresh signings of Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit, Ashley Fletcher, Arthur Masuaku, John Calleri and Andre Ayew. Bilic now seems to be in the mood to building a dangerous attacking team with the signing of Andre Ayew from Swansea City, as he launches a Payet-centric team in several competitions including the Europa League.
Bilic continued expressing confidence in his upgraded team, saying, "Andre Ayew brings more quality. We had a good season last year but we wanted to improve the team. We lost some players as well. I am sure that Ayew will bring more quality. He has good experience from playing at Olympique Marseille and did a good job last season. He was very excited about coming to West Ham. He was our target for a long time and I spoke to Dimitri Payet a few times about him."
