Today, West Ham finally completed one of the biggest signings in its history.
Although some may not have heard of Dimitri Payet before this seemingly endless transfer saga, he has been one of the stand-out creative midfielders in European football for the past few years and was in red-hot form for Marseille last season.
David Sullivan is completely right, if Payet was 22 he would have had the world’s best clubs at his doorstep by now.
The fact that he’s 28 should not put fans off, West Ham have not had a player of Payet’s creative quality in a very long time and it certainly represents a step in the right direction.
It now means that West Ham’s summer recruitment is really starting to gather momentum. It started with Randolph who was more of a squad option rather than a real, ‘marquee’ capture. Signing Obiang was certainly something to get excited about due to his promising reputation and the fact that the Hammers needed further strength in midfield. It is, however, the capture of Payet that has really set the ball rolling and certainly delivers a statement of intent from the club.
Many fans will be wondering what is going to happen next. Slowly but surely, a real nucleus of quality players are starting to develop at the club and with another midfielder and a striker, the spine of the team will look very strong.
Alex Song looks set to be that midfielder. If the Hammers can get him in on a free that means that the budget can be spent elsewhere, possibly on a striker or a centre-back. The club have been linked with Monaco’s Aymen Abdennour, an incredibly strong, no-nonsense Tunisian centre-back that has attracted interest from a number of Europe’s top clubs. At just 25-years-old, he certainly has his best years ahead of him and he has solid European experience due to his efforts for Monaco in the Champions League last season.
Although another centre-back would be a wise move, the priority at the moment must be signing Jenkinson for another year. The club are in need of a right-back as Joey O’Brien is currently the only recognisable right-sided defender at West Ham. New signing Stephen Hendrie is a full-back but he has played predominantly on the left side in his career so West Ham will want to get Jenkinson back at Upton Park considering the impact he made last season.
It looks as if West Ham are fully focused on getting players in rather than selling so far in this window and that certainly seems like the correct approach at the moment. There is, however, interest from Sunderland regarding Stewart Downing. The former Liverpool man turns 31 next month and if a rumoured offer of around £7 million comes in for him, the club may be tempted to sell and reinvest that money in a move for a younger attacking midfielder.
It would also be an excellent fee for a player who is entering the latter stages of his career and may be forced to play second-fiddle to Payet next season. Having said that, West Ham will be cautious of letting Downing go when they are lacking creative midfielders already and Downing did impress last term.
It looks as if things are about to get really busy at The Boleyn Ground and the fact that Payet has actually signed provides a much welcomed boost to the club’s transfer plans this summer. It’ll certainly be intriguing to see who the club move for next.
Who should West Ham sign next? What positions are in need of strengthening? Comment below
Payet has the potential of being an absolutely fantastic signing and the beginning of another unbelievable transfer window for the Hammers!
Where next? Well, I believe that’s easy as the next couple of signings are already known. I am expecting to hear some very good news concerning Song and Jenks. And then?
Imo after those fantastic acquisitions we should concerntrate on a proven goal scorer and a quality centre half.
The more I hear about abdennour the more I like him. Every team needs that no nonsense bit of steel running down its spine and he certainly fits the bill.
As for goal scorers, we are being linked with both Remy and Austin. To be honest both would be fantastic signings, but I think imo Austin has the slight edge in that April are reportedly keen on Jarvis.
This would have the added advantage of both easing the prohibitive transfer fee whilst removing some expensive dead wood.
If we could manage to sign all of the above highlighted targets it would signal a fantastic transfer window for the Hammers.
cabeye, konoplayka,remy jenkinson. ,vlaar , Austin , good shopping list
Very good post
Landing Pyet is awesome news – Song is next, Jenks will agree a new loan, then what – offers for Downing around 7 mil we would be mad to turn down – we could us that to go for Cabaeye – we have 4 CD’s already, the usual 3 plus Burke and Henry, graduates not far away either, and lets not forget Kouyate can slip in seamlessly aswell, and might want to if midfield is getting crowded for places, thus I wouldn’t see that position as a priority unless of course we can get great quality at a value price, abdennour is a good target to aim at that’s for sure, but I think we will also need cover at RB, Obrien needs to be improved upon as depth, but up front, well maiga and Zarate look to be added back to the squad with Sakho, Valencia, Caroll, Elliot Lee is sure to get more time, we should target another quality player but are we really sure 15 mil for Austin represents value, im not, even remy who imo is the better of the two at 15 mil is over the top, both imo are overpriced with those tags and the fact WH were able to find Sakho at 4-5 mil who imo is just as good as either is evidence they could find and target another of similar value elsewhere – undoubtedly we need another decent forward to give us greater depth – the big picture though is the quality of player we are starting to see signing, its started last summer with some great value acquisitions and so far this summer we have signed more quality and being linked with even more, am really looking forward to see how our squad ends up for this next season and excited about the new era under Bilic – COYI
The signing of Dimitari Payet has surprised most people and I think with him in our team we could make top 7 or possibly contenders for Europein qualification. Alex Song is a great defensive midfielder but also has an eye for goal. Hopefully we can sign Aymen Abdenour he will add strength to are defence-hopefully we can keep Winston Reid. Carl Jenkinson has made a massive impact for us last season and in the Under 21’s European Cup.
I would like to see the following signings:
Loic Remy (Chelsea) has proven him self in the last few seasons as a talent.
Charlie Austin (QPR) he has an eye for goal and his movement in a game is what we need to progress as a team.
Konoplayka is a very good talent and would surely sequre us with top 10.
I believed if we bought the players above we would definitely challenge for Europe this season.
We need to go into the Olympic Stadium next season as a top 10 team and playing good football.
To conclude I would like to say we need to buy another striker to support Valencia and Sakho because I don’t mean to be rude but when Andy Carroll is in the team he changes the way we play and it’s not a good way.
Thank you for reading my ideas. Let’s hope we sign some of them!
Gold and Sullivan should accept we made a major error is signing Andy Carroll, he does not fit the way we will play, sell now and we may be lucky to get just under 50% of what we paid for him, also I feel away from the media and bright lights of London, his personal obsession for being in the press will decrease and he may settle again, IF he keeps fit! if we hang on another season we may have to wipe off what we paid for him and his ridiculous salary which he has never earned forever pushing it in our faces, the luxury life he leads for doing Nothing.
I Believe that Charlie Austin could deliver more than his 15 goals this season, he is more of a all round striker! that we will never get from AC.