It would have been akin to West Ham swooping in and gazumping Europe's elite sides for the signatures of Argentine duo Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in August 2006. The name William Carvalho has become synonymous with the back pages of tabloids this year, having been linked with a host of top clubs over the last few months. By all accounts, the 22 year old Sporting Lisbon midfielder is honing himself into one of the finest defensive talents in European football, and the furore and hype surrounding him is surely going to culminate in a blockbuster move to a European heavyweight. Not a move to the...the KC Stadium. With Arsenal and Manchester United rumoured to have been sniffing around the Portuguese lynchpin for months, Bruce decided to see if he could prize away the starlet on transfer deadline day. However, with Sporting having placed a £25 million price tag on his head, the Tigers could never have seriously been in the running, and instead plumped for West Ham's Mohamed Diame for a fraction of the cost. While it was a surprisingly optimistic move from the Tigers, it will be the ambition shown by a side who were languishing in League Two ten years that buoyed Hull supporters the most.