Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed that Kieron Dyer’s move to West Ham collapsed after the Hammers refused to pay an increased fee of £8m.
The club had accepted a bid of £6m for the player but increased the amount they wanted for Dyer by an additional £2m.
“In the end, we decided Kieron was undervalued,” explained Allardyce.
“We escalated the valuation to what we thought was realistic and West Ham did not want to roll with it.”
Dyer was poised to sign with West Ham having already agreed personal terms and passed a medical at the London club.
But West Ham boss Alan Curbishley said on Saturday that the deal “was pulled at the 11th hour by Newcastle and there’s not much we can do about that”.
Allardyce said he was “more upset” than West Ham about the collapse of the deal.
“Why? That is confidential,” added Allardyce.
“Kieron is back with us, a top player with a squad who are growing.
“Will it be difficult for Kieron? It’s life, isn’t it? He has got a contract. You sign it. The length of the contract means you are employed by an employer, something happens, it doesn’t work, you come back and get on with it.
“If anything else happens in terms of West Ham increasing their offer, then great. If they don’t then clearly they don’t value him as highly as we do.”
