West Ham United academy chief Tony Carr has revealed how Liverpool icon Ray Houghton should have been a Hammer.

Carr says allowing Houghton to move onto Fulham was biggest transfer blunder he has seen in his 37 years at Upton Park.

He told the Daily Mail: "The likes of David Beckham, Tony Adams and John Terry were in our catchment area, but did not spend their later teenage years with us. Ray progressed through the ranks here and made a single first-team appearance at Arsenal, before we released him and he joined Fulham on a free transfer.

"I remember Malcolm Macdonald, who was Fulham manager then, asking John Lyall if he had any more free transfers like that!

"Ray went on to win league titles with Liverpool and famously scored a winning goal against Italy at the World Cup finals. It's fair to say we got it wrong with that one."