David Moyes Reveals Islam Slimani Was Expected to Make West Ham Loan Move Before Joining Newcastle

David Moyes reveals he was under the assumption that Islam Slimani had completed his loan move to West Ham before being told the striker had in fact joined Newcastle for the remainder of the season.

West Ham were confident of securing Leicester's Slimani until the end of the campaign before negotiations collapsed and the 29-year-old secured a deal to join the Magpies on the last day of the January window. 

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After being hit by an injury crisis in his forward ranks Moyes was desperate to add attacking firepower to his squad to see out the remainder of the season, and he told Sky Sports that Slimani was thought to be that man.

He said: "Slimani was agreed on Tuesday night and it didn't come off on Wednesday. I only woke up on Wednesday to be told that it wasn't going to happen."

It was not the only transfer blow to come the Hammers way in January as Moyes also revealed why a move for Lille defender Ibrahim Amadou failed to transpire.

"Then on Wednesday afternoon we hoped to do Amadou. We put in a loan offer for him, which we hoped might have been good enough to get him," Moyes said.

"We didn't want to pay the asking price because we hadn't seen him often enough to say it was worth putting out £16m for him but we made a really big loan offer and couldn't get him in the end."

Although the January window threw up a few disappointing surprises, the Hammers were able to land Preston North End striker Jordan Hugill, a player Moyes admits the club had always been keeping tabs on.

Moyes said: "He was always someone we had an eye on. I've got a thing about where do players come from, as in where do you bring them in if you're buying new players.

"It either has to come from your academy or the lower leagues. Do we have it in the academy? No, well then the next place we should look is in the UK. We went looking and I thought Jordan would be worth a go."