West Ham decision to turn down Gelson Martins looks justified

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A player who has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs this January is Gelson Martins, though the Portugal international has now signed for AS Monaco on loan for the season. It now has been claimed that he could have been on West Ham’s radar.

Former footballer Don Hutchinson claimed on Twitter that he recommended the winger to West Ham 18 months ago, before he joined Atletico Madrid for a £26 million fee in the summer.

The former Sporting Clube wideman has struggled to settle in Spain, making just one La Liga start, suggesting that the Hammers were right to ignore the advice of Hutchinson in the summer of 2017.

Instead, the club pursued a move for Marko Arnautovic, who has become a key man for Slaven Bilic, David Moyes and now Manuel Pellegrini. Had Martins been considered as an alternative, the past year or so could have been a different story.

Martins will now seek to revive his career in Ligue 1, battling against relegation with the Principality club as Thierry Henry seeks to keep Monaco in the top flight.

Both parties have gone down different paths since Hutchinson’s recommendation in 2017, but it seems that West Ham were the ones to benefit the most from that decision.