Spurs and West Ham won’t believe what’s happened to a star they’ve missed out on to one of their Premier League rivals.
There looks to have been a sliding doors moment for West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur regarding a mutual target this summer.
Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui and the club’s technical director Tim Steidten have been busy overhauling West Ham’s squad this summer.
Meanwhile Ange Postecoglou has been fine-tuning his Tottenham side, signing West Ham target Dominic Solanke for £65m.
West Ham actually held talks with Solanke’s family over a summer move.
But he has ended up joining Spurs with West Ham signing Niclas Fullkrug instead.
The top spokesman inside West Ham recently told Hammers News that majority owner David Sullivan would have loved to sign Solanke this summer but couldn’t afford him.
Hammers and Spurs had mutual targets
The striker was not the only player wanted by both London rivals, though.
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Way back in May, it was claimed West Ham were battling Tottenham for Celtic’s London-born Danish midfielder Matt O’Riley.
The 23-year-old amassed 31 goals and assists for Celtic last season, scoring 15 and laying on 16.
And both the Irons and Spurs were said to have been encouraged by the player who felt ready to test himself in the Premier League for the first time.
Well he has indeed moved to the Premier League.
But O’Riley joined Brighton instead for around £25m as they beat West Ham and Tottenham to his signature.
Now the star Spurs and West Ham missed out on to their rivals has been injured just six minutes into his debut.
Spurs and West Ham won’t believe what’s happened to star they’ve missed out on
O’Riley was making his Brighton bow in the Carabao Cup against Crawley when disaster struck.
A horror tackle by Crawley’s Jay Williams left the former West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur target needing to be helped from the pitch by medics.
In his post-match press conference Seagulls boss Fabian Huerzeler confirmed it is a potentially serious injury.
The German said the new midfielder could not walk unaided as he cannot put any weight on his foot following the challenge, which you can see below.
Brighton are now waiting for swelling to reduce so they can send O’Riley for a scan to determine how long he will be out for.
“I think after this foul it was like the players could tackle like they want because he didn’t get a yellow card,” Huerzeler told The Argus.
“For me it is a clear red card. You can’t tackle like this but you can play hard and you can be ruthless.
“In the end I hope Matt is not so badly injured like it looks but we have to wait for a scan of his ankle.”
It’s never nice to see a player get injured. And it was an impact injury from a silly challenge so could have happened to anyone.
There is always that hope when a player who has been excelling in Scotland arrives in the English top flight that they may be the next Virgil van Dijk.
But West Ham and Tottenham fans who were looking to see whether O’Riley could cut it in the Premier League after missing out on the Dane will now have to wait a little longer.
Spurs know all about injury frustration when it comes to new signings after losing Solanke until mid-September.