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West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that he was interested in signing former Cardiff City midfielder Gary Medel in the recent January transfer window, but couldn’t come to an agreement with the midfielder’s current club, Besiktas, as reported by talkSPORT.
What’s the story?
As per the aforementioned report, the Hammers boss is quoted as saying, “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. But then it turned out the player was not free.”
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The Irons failed to bring the 31-year-old to the London Stadium before the transfer window deadline arrived. Before the end of the season, Pellegrini may come to regret not having done more to bring the experienced 114-cap Chile international back to the Premier League.
Weak in the middle
The Daily Mail recently reported that midfielder Jack Wilshere could be out for the rest of the season with a persistent ankle injury. Earlier in the campaign, Wilshere’s fellow summer arrival Carlos Sanchez also suffered an almost certainly season-ending injury, meaning the Hammers have now lost two of their most experienced midfielders until the summer.
In failing to bring Medel to east London, West Ham have failed to adequately replace these losses. Far too great a burden is now being placed on teenager Declan Rice and the ageing Mark Noble to anchor the midfield for the rest of the season, with only Pedro Obiang on hand to offer an experienced back-up option in the middle of the park.