‘We will do a deal’: Chairman says he was ready to sell his ‘unbelievable’ player to West Ham this summer

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West Ham were busy during the summer transfer window, but perhaps the biggest stories at the London Stadium this summer were around the deals that didn’t happen.

Indeed, moves for the likes of Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay fell through after initial approaches, while deadline day moves for Hugo Ekitike and Filip Kostic didn’t come off either.

Now, speaking on The Hard Truth Podcast, Peterborough United chairman, Darragh MacAnthony has been discussing the Hammers’ reported interest in Ronnie Edwards, and according to MacAnthony, The Posh were ready to sell Edwards to West Ham.

However, when the bid arrived, it was far from acceptable, and ultimately, Peterborough decided they were better off keeping the defender.

Edwards could’ve gone

MacAnthony shared the state of play with his ‘unbelievable’ centre-back.

“With a week to go in the window his agent, just before the Derby game actually and it really messed with the player’s head, on the Friday he said West Ham are going to offer this, this and this,’ MacAnthony said.

“And all these people saying I’m asking for £8, 9 or 10 million I’m not. I realise being a League One club, it’s not like being in the Championship where you can ask for a lot more money for Ronnie.

“But what I did want was a fair fee and a fair load of add ons, based on Premier League, if it was a Championship club promotion – so all the bits and pieces you pay quite happily, like the Ivan Toney deal at Brentford.

“So we got intimated that this was going to be offered to us by West Ham so we said to the agent if that is offered then we will do a deal with West Ham next week.

But David Sullivan emailed in an offer but it was.. yeah. It was, you know, forget it.

“I nearly sold a 17-year-old to Brentford for a little bit less. So it was like no. That told me that he or the club saw him as a punt.

“Whereas the funny thing was we had gone to the West Ham coaching staff about getting him back on loan but they said ‘no, no, no we want him because we think he will get into our first-team squad’.

“So there is obviously I don’t know what’s going on there.

“So fair play, Sullivan does what he does, he has read the headlines, he’s a gambler in that way, and was like that’s all I’m willing to pay, take it or leave it. And it was a kind of take it or leave it thing, so we were like no.”

Should’ve gone for him

West Ham may well live to regret missing out on Edwards.

This young man is one of the most promising defenders in the EFL, and as the likes of Ben White and Tyrone Mings have shown in recent years, the EFL can often be a breeding ground for top-class defenders these days.

Who knows? Maybe West Ham could revisit this one in January, but, for now, it looks like this could be one the Hammers live to regret.