West Ham boss David Moyes has revealed he was close to signing Luis Diaz last month.

Moyes thought he had the Colombian winger in the bag until Liverpool came in and prised him from Porto for an initial fee of £37million on deadline day.

“That’s true. I spoke to Luis Diaz on the phone and we were quite far down the line,” said Moyes.

“My understanding was Liverpool were not going to come in for him until the summer, so we tried to get him in January.

“I don’t know if us trying to get him in January affected Liverpool’s decision, but he’s a really good player and we didn’t get him.”

Diaz’s early promise at Anfield will only heighten some West Ham’s fans’ frustration at their failure to add to the squad in January, with their top-four hopes in danger of slipping away.

But Moyes added: “Our ambition is to sign the best players that we can to try to improve West Ham.

“I want to make us better. I don’t want to be mediocre. Sometimes you just need to hope you get the right things at the right time, that’s the way I’ve chosen to do things here, rather than bringing in people who maybe don’t quite fit the bill.

“I want us to be in and around the top and I’m not giving up on being in and around the top.

“We’ve been in the top four twice this season. Our plan now is to make sure the third time we go in it we stay there. What we are trying to do here is big.”