Pellegrini Explains Why West Ham Failed In Bid To Land Chilean Midfield Destroyer

Pellegrini Explains Why West Ham Failed In Bid To Land Chilean Midfield Destroyer

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that the club failed to sign Gary Medel from Besiktas on deadline day.

The Hammers had been heavily linked with the Chilean over the past couple of months but talks broke down as the Turkish club refused to let him go on a free transfer:

“The only player we had interest in was Gary Medel, they told us it was free and we were interested because he can play in two or three positions. They told us he was free but then it turned out the player was not free.”

Besiktas are currently in financial trouble and are looking to offload some of their top earners. Medel, who has been in Turkey for 18 months, was someone they were looking to get off the books.



The former Cardiff City and Inter Milan midfielder was likely being eyed as backup to Declan Rice and Mark Noble in the middle of the park.

With Carlos Sanchez out with a knee injury, Medel could have been an ideal replacement while being available for nothing.

As Pellegrini also mentions, he can play in a number of other positions, including the centre of defence where the Hammers are also short of numbers.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.