Poland manager Czesław Michniewicz has admitted that Jan Bednarek was 'determined' to join West Ham United on transfer deadline day, before a conversation with Aston Villa and Steven Gerrard changed things.
The 26-year-old signed for West Ham's Premier League rivals just before the summer transfer window deadline, with Bednarek completing a season-long loan move to Villa Park, despite having been strongly linked with a switch to the London Stadium to join West Ham.
The Southampton centre-back was allowed to leave St Mary's during the summer transfer window with Ralph Hasenhuttl unable to guarantee the 26-year-old a regular first-team spot, having brought in Armel Bella-Kotchap from VFL Bochum and with Duje Caleta-Car also joining the Saints as Bednarek departed.
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Bednarek had looked set for a move east London to join David Moyes at West Ham, with the Hammers hoping to find a replacement for summer signing Nayef Aguerd after he suffered an ankle injury in pre-season that has required surgery.
However, his international manager has said that while Moyes held conversations with Bednarek about a move to the London Stadium, a conversation with Gerrard changed his mind ahead of the World Cup in Qatar later this year, with the Poland boss claiming that the prospect of playing with international colleague Matty Cash at Villa was a key factor.
“Jan [Bednarek) told me such a nice sentence that he fell asleep as a West Ham United player, and woke up as a player of Aston Villa,” said Poland boss Michniewicz via Sport.pl. “First, he talked to David Moyes, who invited him to West Ham and said that he needed a defender because the one they had bought for €35million [Aguerd] had suffered a serious injury.
“And Jan was determined to go there. He wanted to compete with the other centre-backs. West Ham have a lot of games because they also play in the [Europa] Conference League. But then Steven Gerrard called him and the conversation was different.
“He [Gerrard] just told him that he would be an important player for him. He used the argument of the World Cup. ‘I know you want to go to the World Cup. You will be playing at my place, you will prepare, I also have Matty Cash here, so it’s good for your team.’ This declaration convinced him.”
Bednarek is yet to play for Villa having been an unused substitute for the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, while Aston Villa's game against Leicester City was postponed last weekend. The Polish defender is ineligible to face his parent club Southampton on Friday, meaning his wait for a Villa debut is set to continue.
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