West Ham United joint chairman David Sullivan has revealed that Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez was "within three hours" of becoming Hammers manager before joining the Spanish club.
The Premier League side targeted the former Chelsea boss as a replacement for the departing Sam Allardyce at the start of the summer before the Spaniard chose to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at Real.
Sullivan told the London Evening Standard that the club had agreed a contract with Benitez to take the reins at Upton Park before turning to Slaven Bilic when the deal was not completed.
"Rafa Benitez was within three hours of signing for us," he said. "Every clause in his contract was agreed and then he went to Real Madrid.
"It was a real blow because he is a really experienced manager in England and he did really well in Italy. We had an agreement in place but we had to pick ourselves up, look who else was available and pick the best we could.
"Whoever you take is a gamble. The bottom line is that we have a manager. He has our 100% support. We will support him in the transfer market. We like him."
After being named Hammers boss in June, Bilic led the club to an opening-day win at Arsenal but has seen his side lose their last two Premier League games since that victory, with a trip to Anfield tomorrow next on the agenda.
Tom Nightingale
