West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has revealed that the club missed out on signing new Everton forward Sandro Ramirez this summer.

The Spanish Under-21 star joined the Merseyside club from Malaga for a reported £5.2million deal in July after Everton triggered his release clause and Bilic believes that The Hammers were in the mix to bring him to London.

“Ramirez from Malaga came in, he was in Barcelona and we wanted him but he chose Everton,” he revealed to Croatian newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija.

Ramirez has been tasked with the duty to lead the line at Everton following star striker Romelu Lukaku’s big money move to Manchester United. But Bilic, who spent two years at Goodison Park in the late 90s, sees few similarities between the two strikers.

“He is a quick player and has no traits like Lukaku,” he added. “They lost Lukaku’s strength, but gained Ramirez’s speed.”

West Ham have of course signed Bayer Leverkusen forward Javier Hernandez since then and the Mexican is no stranger to the rigours of the Premier League having spent four full seasons in England with Manchester United.

The Hammers were delivered a crushing blow in their league opener against Jose Mourinho’s side as they lost 4-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday.