David Moyes confirms West Ham tried to sign Luis Díaz

On Friday, it was revealed that a third English club had attempted to sign Luis Fernando Díaz during the winter transfer window. Before Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur expressed an interest in the Colombian winger, David Moyes had hoped to persuade the player to join West Ham.

In declarations to The Mirror, Moyes confirmed that he tried to sign the Porto winger last month and that talks were at quite an advanced stage. He wanted to snatch Luis Díaz from Liverpool's grasp - initially, the Reds had planned to wait until June to place their bid. But as soon as Klopp found out that West Ham were trying to scupper his plan, Liverpool accelerated their operation.

"It's true. I spoke with Luis Díaz on the phone and we were quite far down the line to sign him from Porto. My understanding is Liverpool were going to come in for him in the summer, and I was going to try and get him in January. I don't know if us trying to get him in January affected Liverpool's decision but he's a really good player," Moyes explained.

The Scottish coach added that he felt he was very close to completing the signing after being convinced by what was said by the player and his agent and believed he could push the deal through before the 31 January deadline. "There was a period where I thought we were on our own. We spoke with the agent in London and got it moving," he added. “Then other clubs came onto it. The club were ready to make offers for the correct players and sadly we didn't quite get there (...) I really hoped that he was going to choose West Ham".

Klopp phone call

Events changed dramatically when Klopp called Díaz in Barranquilla, Colombia. The player was on duty with the national team when the German coach phoned. It was that conversation which convinced the player to go to Anfield on a deal worth 45 million euros plus a further 15 million in add-ons.