Newly-signed Stoke City midfielder Papa Ndiaye has revealed why he rejected a move to West Ham and chose the Potters.
West Ham had a quiet transfer window under David Moyes in January, signing only youngster Jordan Hugill from Preston North End and signing Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario on loan until the end of the season.
They were linked with a number of potential signings, including Papa Badou Ndiaye from Turkish giants Galatasaray. He eventually left Turkey for the Premier League, but not West Ham. Instead, he left for £14m to Stoke City, who managed to persuade him to leave Istanbul after only six months.
In a recent interview, the new Stoke City signing said in an interview with Teledakar:
It wasn’t very complicated. I chose to join Stoke [over West Ham], which is a big club with a great history and great players, very experienced. It’s a good club with a very serene environment and everything I need to develop and to be in the optimum condition to play good football.
Both clubs are in a relegation scrap, with Stoke City looking the more likely to go down to the Championship, sitting in 19th place. But with nine games to play, and even eighth-placed Leicester City only ten points out of the relegation zone, absolutely anything can happen.
