AC Milan legend Massimo Ambrosini has told FourFourTwo how a bizarre, boozy encounter with Sam Allardyce put him off joining West Ham back in 2013.
Having been released by the Rossoneri after a glittering decade with the club, in which Ambrosini won two Champions Leagues and inherited the captain's armband from Paolo Maldini, the midfielder had his heart set on a move to East London.
Until, that is, he met Big Sam…
Massimo Ambrosini almost joined West Ham United
“I had lunch with Sam Allardyce, but he thought it was a better idea to talk about wine than to talk about football, and then to get up and leave me halfway through our meeting,” he said, speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, via Betinia. “I was a bit angry about how he decided to treat me, so I signed for Fiorentina.”
Ambrosini had been eager to make the switch to the Boleyn Ground after feeling down in the dumps about his time at San Siro coming to an end.
“We won our last game of the season and qualified for the Champions League, and everyone was happy except me, because I thought my time at AC Milan was over.”
“So the next day I got on a plane and went to London,” he said. “I was happy, and totally convinced about going there.”
With the Hammers on the brink of a major transfer coup, all that was missing was a signature. But according to Ambrosini, Big Sam’s poor table manners torpedoed the whole enterprise.
“If you go and meet the manager and he doesn’t talk to you about anything, just drinks wine, refuses to talk about football, and leaves you alone with another person, without even saying he’s happy you made the journey and would be glad if you joined...” he lamented.
“There was someone else from the club there, I don’t remember his name, but [Allardyce] got up and left us in the middle of the lunch, saying he had to go to another meeting.”
“I would have understood if he’d said, ‘I’m happy you came to London, we’ll talk tomorrow, I’m glad you’re joining,’ – that would have been normal.”
“But none of that happened, so I asked his friend, ‘Where’s he going?’ He told me to be calm, and I said, ‘No.’ And then I left.”
