West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says that he passed up the opportunity to sign Swansea forward Wilfried Bony -- with Andy Carroll brought in instead.
Allardyce revealed he had been scouting Bony when the Ivory Coast international was in prolific form at Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem in 2013 but a move never materialised as he was able to strike a deal with Liverpool to sign Carroll on a permanent basis for around 15 million pounds instead.
Bony later completed a move to the Swans for 12 million pounds and has been in scintillating form since, scoring more Premier League goals in the calendar year (18) than any other player.
Allardyce said: "We signed Andy Carroll and it was one or the other. It couldn't be both and we ended up getting a deal done with Andy so our interest [in Bony] ended because we couldn't do both. We didn't have enough money in the budget that year.
"We spent big money on Andy and the rest had to be proportioned out for the considerable amount of other players we needed at the time."
While Bony has been drawing plaudits for his performances in Garry Monk's side, Carroll is still working his way back to full fitness after suffering the second long-term injury since his loan switch from Anfield was made permanent.
The duo are likely to lead the line for their respective sides when Swansea and West Ham meet at Upton Park on Sunday and Allardyce admits that stopping Bony adding to his tally will be tough.
"I think it is very difficult to stop him," he added. "In the main it'll be about not only the defenders but the team as a whole stopping the supply. If you work hard on shutting down their midfield and wide areas and limit the supply then that is the best way forward but that won't happen all the time.
"When I say we have to get tight on him, we have to be aware of him without getting too tight because he is very strong and very skilful and to knock him off the ball is not an easy task.
"He seems to be able to roll a lot of defenders and hit the ball in the same movement. He is a threat in the air and it will be very interesting for our lads to compete against someone in such good goal-scoring form and hopefully on the day we can keep him quiet."
Monk has suggested West Ham's failure to land Bony was a sign they did not want him enough.
"It's the first I've heard of it, but if that's what they were doing they didn't really want him enough," he said responding to Allardyce's comments at his pregame news conference.
"We obviously pursued Wilfried, he's committed to us, we're committed to him and the rest is history.
"I'm sure every club could say they were looking at this player or that player, but at the end of the day he's a Swansea player and we are very grateful for that. He's proving what a good signing he is.
"I'm not sure how far the [West Ham] discussions were down the line with Bony but for me they're two different types of players.
"They've got different strengths and they're two very good players, and I think you'll see in games this season what they can offer both teams."
Despite the far superior goals record of Bony to England striker Carroll, Monk refused to be drawn into a debate about who is the better player.
"I don't look at who is the better player," Monk added. "I look at what Wilf does for us and they will concentrate on what Andy Carroll does for them.
"We managed to sign Wilfried and we've done a lot of development with him as far as the team is concerned.
"He plays to our strengths, the team to play to his strengths and it obviously works for Wilfried and Swansea City."