Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordan has revealed he was on the cusp of joining West Ham in July 2019 in an exclusive interview with The Athletic.
The 26-year-old revealed how he idolised midfield stalwarts of the Premier League such as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, with the ex-Eibar and Espanyol man preferring the English top flight to his native La Liga in terms of personal engrossment.
Jordan joined Sevilla in the summer of 2019 and won the Europa League with them last season but he has recounted how close he was to taking a different path. He admitted:
I was very close to moving to England, I had an interesting offer. But then Monchi [Sevilla’s Director of Football] called me, and I stopped everything with the Premier League.
The project here, and the club, was very interesting for me. On a financial level, I lost out a bit, as we all know that the financial level in the Premier League is spectacularly strong.
But I wanted to come here, to improve as a player, which was my objective. Maybe if I had moved there (England), I trust a lot in myself, but I don’t know if it would have gone so well.
Manuel Pellegrini, who was West Ham’s manager at the time, was an admirer of the midfielder, who The Athletic opined is more befitting of a box-to-box role, a stance with which the 26-year-old agreed. After impressive spells in two seasons at Eibar with 10 goals and eight assists, the Hammers presented a lucrative contract offer for the Spaniard.
Read West Ham Verdict
It is a shame that a move for Jordan never materialised. His hard work off the ball is a testament to the well-roundedness of his style of play. He cuts a similar mould to that of West Ham captain Mark Noble and could have served as a long-term successor to the 33-year-old.
Never say never; Jordan is still infatuated with the Premier League and maybe a future move to London Stadium could be on the table again.
