It really has been a strange old season for West Ham.After a dismal start to the campaign, where it looked as if relegation was beckoning, Slaven Bilic was sacked and replaced with David Moyes.Amazingly, the rather unpopular choice has steadied the ship, beating Chelsea 2-0 and recording draws against Arsenal and Tottenham along the way.However, recent weeks have shown the frailty of his squad, with injuries to Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll bringing them back down into the harsh reality of life towards the bottom of the Premier League.They sit in 12th, four points off 18th place Southampton, a pretty small gap and it was thought that Moyes would strengthen in the January window.Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew departed to make way for a higher profile striker, but that didn't come to fruition.Instead, they got Preston's Jordan Hugill, while their main target Islam Slimani was allowed to join Newcastle.But why did the Hammers miss out on the Algerian? Surely they're a more appealing destination than the Magpies right now?Well, turns out there was a very good reason.

As reported by the Mirror, Leicester are on dreadful terms with West Ham due to a column written about Claudio Ranieri's sacking by none other than Karren Brady, the club's vice chair.

Foxes owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is still seething over the comments, leading to him refusing to entertain the notion of ever selling them Slimani.

BRADY'S TRANSFER-KILLING WORDS

Here's what Brady wrote: “A fellow Premier League director reports that last night he bumped into the Leicester chairman at London’s most-expensive wine shop.

“The Leicester owner told him they’d sacked Claudio Ranieri.

“He then casually settled his bill for wine and champagne. Since the sum was close to £500,000 I guess the compensation to his old manager is pocket change.

“At least the owner can drown his sorrows in style!”

If that isn't the definition of poetic justice, then what is?

Slimani has never really lived up to they hype after his big money move from Sporting Lisbon but at Newcastle, he should be able to operate as their main man, not feeding off of the scraps left by Jamie Vardy.

With Joselu's failings so far this season, the Algerian might be Rafa Benitez's last hope and West Ham's big mistake.