West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has claimed that AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca wanted to join Arsenal in the summer.
The Hammers were strongly linked with a number of forwards throughout the summer transfer window, before eventually bringing Simone Zaza to the club on an initial season-long loan from Juventus.
Bilic has revealed that Alexandre Lacazette, Bacca and Michy Batshuayi were also on his list, but Lacazette remained at Lyon, Bacca at Milan and Batshuayi made the move to Chelsea from Marseille.
"On our list were [Alexandre] Lacazette, [Simone] Zaza, Bacca and [Michy] Batshuayi, but I knew it would be difficult to buy them," Bilic told MilanNews.
"We wanted Zaza in September of last year, but Juventus had no intention of selling him, then we turned our attention to Lacazette and then Bacca, but we weren't the Colombian's first choice. He was waiting for Arsenal or Atletico Madrid and then ultimately decided to stay at Milan, but we're very happy because we got Zaza, who was our first choice a year ago."
Bacca scored 20 times in 42 appearances for Milan last season after joining the Italian side from Sevilla.
Matt Law
