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Incredible! 98 players linked with West Ham move

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NiangThe transfer window offers the footballing press the perfect opportunity to let their creative juices flow, and mix up various ‘what if’ scenarios.

Despite it being a World Cup summer, interest in domestic matters remained high given England’s disappointing showing.

This meant journalists were forced to construct articles around possible player movements and key signings they felt could be in the offing.

And West Ham seemed to be linked with all and sundry as the owners and management began rebuilding the squad.

A daily record of all players who appeared in football gossip columns shows the club was linked with at least 98 transfers between the window opening and closing.

Of those names reported online and in the papers, the club actually signed Mauro Zarate, Cheikhou Kouyate, Enner Valencia, Carl Jenkinson, Diafra Sakho, and Morgan Amalfitano.

Interestingly, there appeared to be no speculation linking Diego Poyet, Aaron Cresswell and Alex Song until the deals were complete.

Most of the rumours simply suggested West Ham “are interested in” a certain player, but more often than not, when statements were made around the transfer being “imminent”, “in an advanced stage”, and “close to completion”, it came to nothing.

Players said to have been close to moves included Jack Colback, Timothee Kolodziejczak, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, and Marcos Alonso, before most of them opted for other clubs.

More ridiculous links included Marcos Rojo, who eventually moved to Manchester United in a £16million deal, and Loic Remy, who went to Chelsea for £10 million.

The first player who appeared to be linked to the club was 19-year-old AC Milan forward M’Baye Niang.

The last reported deal to be of interest to West Ham this transfer window involved an alleged last minute move for former player Jermain Defoe.

None of this is suggesting the club has had a bad transfer window by missing out on the other 90 odd rumored signings – in fact, the opposite is probably true.

But it just goes to show the summer break is as full of as much miscommunication and false hope as the weekly fixtures bring during the season.

There’s no doubt managers, agents and players are active during the time off, but it is now down to the assembled 25-man squad to stop the chat and perform on the pitch before the rumors start flying again.

Linked player:

M’Baye Niang

Robert Snodgrass

Alessandro Matri

Neil Taylor

Jack Colback

Antonio Rudiger

Gabriele Angella

Steve Sidwell

Pierre-Michel Lasogga

Victor Obinna

Timothee Kolodziejczak

Jonjo Shelvey

Rodrigo Lima

Jonas

Mauro Zarate

Joleon Lescott

Martin Olsson

Bafetimbi Gomis

Gareth Barry

Cheikhou Kouyate

Demba Ba

Aleix Vidal

Ross McCormack

Liam Ridgewell

Jelle Vossen

Wilfried Bony

Emile Heskey

Costel Pantilimon

Ashley Cole

Sadio Mane

Urby Emanuelson

Raphael Guerreiro

Blerim Dzemali

Micah Richards

Raphaël Guerreiro

Marcos Alonso

Prince Oniangue

Gueida Fofana

Luis Pedro Cavanda

Marco Asensio

Moses Odubajo

Jefferson Montero

Islam Slimani

Raul Meireles

Yevhen Konoplyanka

Lamine Kone

Michu

Emanuel Insua

Mathieu Valbuena

Enner Valencia

Diego Contento

Andriy Yarmolenko

Marcos Rojo

Omar Gonzalez

Goran Pandev

Prince Oniangue

Yevhen Konoplyank

Muhamed Besic

Pedro Obiang

Esteban Cambiasso

Gonzalo Bergessio

Fabian Delph

Kolbeinn Sigthorsson

Oscar Cardozo

Loic Remy

Michael Dawson

Paulinho

Carl Jenkinson

Ivan Strinic

Vitorino Antunes

Saphir Taider

Wilfried Zaha

Ashley Young

Samuel Eto’o

Joel Cambell

Hugo Almeida

Mathieu Valbuena

Fábio da Silvia

Declan John

Facundo Ferreyra

Vedad Ibisevic

Peter Crouch

Marco Streller

Diafra Sakho

Morgan Amalfitano

Connor Wickham

Facundo Roncaglia

Valeri Bojinov

Toby Alderweireld

Phillip Wollscheid

Jean Armel Kana Biyik

Ludovic Obraniak (imminent, advanced stage,)

Philippe Mexes

Daniel Bentley

Zdravko Kuzmanovic

Matija Nastasic

Michael Ciani

Jermain Defoe

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A lifelong West Ham supporter, Kevin is a journalist and editor from Essex now based in Sydney. Defying the time difference, he watches every game, and keeps a close eye on everything happening with The Hammers.