Bilic laughs after West Ham owners are called 'the Dildo Brothers'
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic couldn't keep a straight face Friday when asked about remarks made by the president of Sporting CP after the Premier League team's owners were nicknamed "the Dildo Brothers".
A tumultuous transfer deadline triggered a war of words between officials from the two football clubs following West Ham's failed pursuit of Sporting midfielder William Carvalho.
Negotiations deteriorated on transfer deadline day, with Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho threatening to report West Ham to FIFA over the club's perceived illegal pursuit of the Portuguese midfielder. He went on to make the disparaging remark towards owners David Sullivan and David Gold, who previously worked in the pornography industry.
The under-fire manager, whose team resides in last place after three matches, acted as though he hadn't heard the remark during his meeting with the press Friday ahead of West Ham's weekend fixture with Huddersfield Town.
"Which comment?" Bilic jokingly said, according to Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian. "I thought about coming with a lawyer today! There have been issues! Come on, say it! It’s funny. It made me laugh, but look I don’t like to talk about some things. What I know about that transfer is that I wanted the player. That has been going on for a long time. We kept it low profile.
"It was the whole summer and it looked promising. From what I know, we spoke, not me, but West Ham people and the people who have the power, they spoke to Sporting about Carvalho. We wanted him."
West Ham reportedly refused to meet Sporting's £37.5 million (€41.1 million) valuation and, instead, was only willing to pay £22.8 million (€25 million) plus add-ons.
Despite Sullivan's revelation that Bilic refused deals for Renato Sanches and Grzegorz Krychowiak, who joined Swansea and West Brom, respectively, the Croatian manager insists that his attempt to sign Carvalho overshadowed transfers for other players available on the market.
"David Sullivan likes to talk," Bilic said. "It’s his right to be able to. I wanted the player and that is not exactly what happened with those two you mention. I wanted Carvalho and it looked likely. During my time at West Ham, it’s very common that when it looks like a player is going to happen, that someone throws in two or three other names and that distracts you from the main target, and that’s what happened. Those two other players are very good players.”