YOU TALK TOO MUCH!
Bilic slams Sullivan over transfers
SLAVEN BILIC is on collision course with David Sullivan after advising West Ham United’s co- owner to stop airing the club’s dirty laundry in public.
The Hammers missed out on top transfer target William Carvalho on deadline day, prompting Sullivan to vent his frustration on the club’s website.
He claimed Bilic turned down the chance to sign Bayern Munich’s highly-rated Renato Sanches and Paris Saint- Germain’s Grzegorz Krychowiak — something the manager challenged yesterday.
‘David Sullivan likes to talk,’ Bilic said yesterday. ‘ It’s his right. I wanted the player (Carvalho) and that is not exactly what happened with those two (Sanches and Krychowiak). I wanted Carvalho and it looked likely. At West Ham, it is very common that when it looks like a player is going to sign, two or three other names are thrown in and that distracts you from the main target. That’s what happened.
‘There are many things I am not happy about, but I don’t function like that. If I want to say something, I say it to Max Fitzgerald (West Ham’s head of media) or the chairman. I am not going to talk through lawyers or the media. I am expecting, if David Sullivan says something about me, for him to call me and not go through you guys.’
West Ham’s players have faced many distractions ahead of Monday’s game against Huddersfield. A spat between the club and Sporting Lisbon over Carvalho has descended into name-calling, with Sullivan and David Gold being branded the ‘dildo brothers’ by the Portuguese side’s president.
‘There have been issues,’ Bilic added. ‘What can I say? It was funny to read some of those comments. But that’s not the way I work. I would call that guy. I don’t like to go public with dirty laundry. That’s it.’
Bilic still hopes West Ham will be able to sign Carvalho in January. ‘But who thinks about January now?’ he added. ‘Why didn’t it happen? It was money. ‘You cannot be like a small child and go, “Buy me that Kinder Egg”, like my daughter asks every time we go to Waitrose. Then if you don’t buy it, she is disappointed. You move on. You can’t be angry. I wanted Carvalho, but I have a good team.’
Meanwhile, Tom Ince is ready to face the wrath of the West Ham faithful on Monday — even if his father Paul is not.
West Ham fans have never forgiven his dad, a product of their academy, for the way he left for Manchester United in 1989. And Ince Jnr received plenty of abuse when he visited Upton Park with Blackpool as a teenager.
‘You have to enjoy getting stick because you must be a halfdecent player,’ he said.
‘I’m proud of the name on my shirt. If people want to criticise me because my old man was a good player, then so be it. It doesn’t affect me.’