Saturday 15 October 2016 00:16, UK
Slaven Bilic will be hoping not to be haunted by the two that got away when West Ham go in search of their first league victory since August when they travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Hammers manager reluctantly sold James Tomkins to the Eagles in the summer having been unable to guarantee the defender first-team football.
Bilic was also interested in signing Christian Benteke before the Belgium forward decided to leave Liverpool for Palace.
"Benteke was one of the players on our list but he was also on the list of many clubs," Bilic said.
"He went to Palace and now it's irrelevant because he is their player and we have got our strikers.
"I didn't speak to him. We just wanted to know the situation and we couldn't get him basically, it was hard to get him.
"I can say how good he is as a striker and the impact he has made. In the first three games they were struggling but now they are improving with him.
"But we can't just be focused on him because there are many players there who can turn the game."
Benteke has enjoyed a productive start to life at Palace, netting three goals, and scored a hat-trick for Belgium in the World Cup Qualifier against Gibraltar in midweek.
By contrast Simone Zaza, who Bilic signed on a season-long loan from Juventus after missing out on Benteke, has yet to find the net in his five appearances so far.
Reports in the national press have even suggested West Ham may cut the Italy international's loan spell short to avoid him playing enough matches to trigger a clause to make his move permanent at a cost of £17m.
But Bilic insisted: "I only have to make a decision on Zaza over Saturday.
"The only thing I am thinking about, about the situation in his contract or around his contract, is whether he going to be the one I will put at centre-forward against Palace."
The decision to sell Tomkins, who can play at centre-half or right-back, also seems to have backfired on the Hammers whose injury-hit defence has leaked 17 goals in their opening seven games.
"I didn't want him to leave but last year he played many, many games for us in different positions and he was very good for our squad," admitted Bilic.
"But I couldn't guarantee he would play week in, week out and that is the reason he left. He didn't want to leave because he is West Ham born and bred. He wanted guarantees, basically, and I couldn't give him that."
