West Ham abandon their pursuit of Chris Smalling

Chris Smalling
Chris Smalling

West Ham United have been linked with a few defenders over the last few weeks and the latest name was that of the Manchester United defender Chris Smalling.

The 27-year-old is expected to leave Old Trafford this summer after failing to impress Jose Mourinho last season. The Red Devils have already signed a partner of Eric Bailly. Victor Lindelof recently completed his move to Manchester United from Benfica.

According to Daily Star, Slaven Bilic was interested in signing the £15m-rated England international. However, the Croatian has chosen to pull out of the race to sign Smalling now. Apparently, Bilic believes that his side are well stocked in that department and it will be wise to invest the money elsewhere.

West Ham are set to rely on the likes of Collins, Reid, Fonte and Ogbonna for next season. Although none of those defenders are of poor quality, they are simply not good enough to take West Ham to European football. The Hammers will need to tighten up at the back if they want to break into the top seven next season.

Smalling could have been a terrific addition to West Ham and it seems that Bilic is making a massive transfer mistake. If the report is true, the Croatian is likely to regret his decision next season.

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