Slaven Bilic has ruled out the idea of West Ham signing Marcus Rashford from Manchester United in January, adding he is not looking forward to dealing with the myriad of agents calling him in January to offer him their client’s services.
The Hammers are set to let Simone Zaza return to Juventus and have been associated with the struggling Manchester United starlet, who has found game time hard to come by at Old Trafford.
The Premier League relegation battlers have also been linked to a host of other names when the transfer window opens, including Patrice Evra and Jermain Defoe.
However, Bilic says a lot of the news is made up by agents hawking their clients about to clubs and the media, confessing that he has grown weary of the process.
“No way,” he told reporters when asked about the possibility of signing the United forward. “Rashford is very valuable for Manchester United. There’s no way. There’s no way to get him. They have many games, four competitions. He’s playing. So no way. No way.
“We are the club that is linked with the most players in Europe! Every player that is available, it is always West Ham.
“It’s that time of the year. You have the agents calling. I think we have a good principle. We have chairmen, there’s me and my staff, and we are working quite well.
“Of course, you are bombed with names and everything. When you talk to them, everybody is like [Lionel] Messi or whatever. They are also very cheap, dying to come, and they have a little West Ham tattoo.
“Not now … but since the school days and all that. You know it’s that time of the year.
“At the end of the day it’s part of the job. If it was during the whole year it would be crazy, but then you have it twice a year. It is sometimes too much but sometimes you want it.
“If we were talking about getting players then you cannot get them without agents. So you can’t say I don’t want to talk to them because then you will not get the players.”
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