West Ham pulled off a real coup by signing Dimitri Payet. The 28-year-old signed from a ‘reluctant’ Marseille who I would imagine are very disappointed to lose arguably their best player. But does the transfer fee say value for money or have we overspent on an attacking player in typical West Ham fashion?
To put things simply, we haven’t. The reported £10.7million transfer fee is a bargain for a player who created the most chances in Europe’s top 5 divisions. Completing the top 5 of that category behind Payet are Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabreges and we all know the transfer fees required to prize them away for their respective clubs and for that reason, David Gold and Sullivan deserve a lot of praise considering the price they paid for Dimitri.
At 28 years of age Payet is clearly not a hot prospect but at that age you have your best years still ahead of you and after putting pen to paper on a lucrative 5 year deal I for one am thrilled that those years will be spent in claret and blue.
The fee is fairly low for a player of Payet’s calibre and especially Payet’s experience and I feel that what he can bring to the club doesn’t stop at his on-field quality; his European knowhow will serve him well. Payet’s versatility between number 10 and playing on either flank is also a positive feature of the Frenchman’s play and he will be a handful for the best of Premier League defenders.
Despite the signing of Dimitri Payet combined with those of Pedro Obiang, Martin Samuelson and Darren Randolph, I am still worried that our beloved ‘west ham way’ is some way off from being achieved. I feel that we are still a handful of signings away from where we all want us to be.
Firstly, we need to sure up our defence! Joey O’Brien, as consistent as he is, cannot be the only right back we have on the books going into to our gruelling campaign. I know the board are working tirelessly to ensure that Carl Jenkinson’s loan deal is renewed for a further year and that would definitely solve the situation.
A centre back must also be on the agenda due to our recent defensive injury record. Regular twitter-users will be aware of @ExWHUemployee who recently tweeted that “we are looking at some top quality centre backs” so clearly the board share my view.
Our midfield last season lacked creativity in the latter part of the season and Payet will improve this aspect of our game but for me there is one player above all the rest who I think Mr Sullivan should be desperately chasing after and that is Yohan Cabaye.
He was a catalyst for all of Newcastle’s successes during his time in the North East and he is a name that would certainly excite a few people at Upton Park. Alex Song has been teasing us all with various social media posts and the club have openly stated that they are interested in bringing him in permanently and believe they are a front runner to get their man.
When fully fit, our attackers are very capable of scoring handfuls of goals but they too have been injured for large parts of the season. No more so than record signing Andy Carroll who showed brief quality during the winter months but then picked up a season ending injury, again. Loíc Remy and Charlie Austin are the two main targets it appears and for me I am struggling to find a preference.
Whichever deal would be the most cost effective would be the one I would go for! So with more additions of players with international and European experience imminent, the future looks very bright for our club as we say goodbye to our long serving home and prepare to move into the Olympic Stadium.
Good article, I would be so disappointed if we didn’t sign Song, (Should be our new captain)He’s dip in form I think was down to allardyce playing his own brand of football to suit carrolls return. Song wasn’t the only player suffer from xmas on. What a window it would be if Jenks returned, plus another central defender Corluka would do (Also cover for right back) And to cap it all offer Matt Jarvis PX for Austin, SMOKIN !!!