West Ham boss David Moyes says they did all they could to sign new Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
West Ham saw an offer turned down by Leeds United for Phillips in January and he's since signed for Manchester City for £45m.
"We bid more than that," says Moyes to the Daily Mail.
"We're trying to be competitive with the big teams. If we can't, we have to find another way of keeping up with them."
Moyes also said: "West Ham supporters are no mugs. They know when a player is committed. In the great old days, this club had top England internationals.
"We've certainly got one — in Declan Rice — and hopefully we're on the way to having a second top one — in Jarrod Bowen.
"We've lost Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko, some other boys from the squad, so we're well aware we need to add to it."
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