Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor 'too expensive' for West Ham says David Gold

Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor failed to seal a deadline day move to West Ham United because Slaven Bilic felt he was too expensive, according to Hammers co-owner David Gold. Adebayor, who has remained exiled from the Tottenham squad having not been given a squad number this season, was reportedly on the verge of signing for Bilic's new look West Ham on transfer deadline day, only for talks to break down before the 6pm (BST) deadline.

Sky Sports reports Tottenham were even prepared to pay off a portion of the final year of the striker's contract – reportedly worth £5m – in order to completely cut their ties with the player and speed up his move to east London. But West Ham walked away from the deal, instead bringing in Nikica Jelavic from Hull City.

Tottenham did manage to finalise one late outgoing deal, with Aaron Lennon joining Everton on a permanent basis following his loan spell at the club last season. But the club could do little to force Adebayor's move, with Gold insisting it was West Ham who pulled the plug on the deal.

"I think it was more an enquiry and again, Slaven showed interest – we showed a bit of interest – and then it sort of all went quiet and Slaven obviously decided against it," Gold said of the Adebayor talks in an interview with Talksport.

Gold also suggested Adebayor was not comfortable with the number of strikers on the club's books as another reason why no deal could be struck. He said: "[He's] a very expensive player and I think he just weighed it up and felt with Andy [Carroll] coming back, with [Enner] Valencia coming back, with [Mauro] Zarate coming back, and, of course, he was confident we would bring in the player from Hull [Jelavic]."

On a busy deadline day, West Ham added four members to their squad. Alongside Jelavic, Alex Song rejoined the club on a season-long loan from Barcelona, while Victor Moses made the move across London from Chelsea on another loan deal. Michail Antonio also joined the club from Nottingham Forest, signing a four-year deal at Upton Park.