It is no secret that West Ham’s biggest weakness last season was down the flanks, Jarvis didn’t even get an assist (could be due to poor finishing) and Ricardo Vaz Te was less than inspiring, it seems that one of Big Sam’s biggest priorities this summer is to strengthen our wings along with finding two new strikers.
One of the players we have been heavily linked with for a few weeks is 27 year old Ivorian Salomon Kalou, who can play on either the right or left side of midfield or just behind the striker.
Most Hammers fans will remember him for his time at Chelsea, where he was mainly used as a substitute striker for Didier Drogba. Since leaving Stamford Bridge, Kalou has had a superb season at Lille, scoring 14 goals in 28 games and getting 5 assists too, which along with the crossing ability of Matt Jarvis (putting last season aside) could prove a force to be reckoned with, especially with the strength and power of Big Andy Carroll up top.
Apparently Lille are looking for a fee of around £3m, this in my view is an absolute bargain, considering that Newcastle are looking to bid around that for Matt Taylor. Kalou is an experienced Premier League player, he has pace, a few tricks and can score goals too, it would be foolish not to take advantage of his price tag.
In the current West Ham side we lack experienced international players, who are looking to win trophies, Kalou is use to competing for silverware and has over 50 caps for Ivory Coast. Similarly to this I think that Razvan Rat will also add a winning mentality to our squad.
The only downside to signing a player like to Salomon Kalou, is the fact that he will be fasting for 30 days a year due to his beliefs. Which many argue doesn’t affect the players performances, but if you look at some of the best Muslim players in the Premier League like Demba Ba and Al-Habsi last season, they hit a dip in form when they were fasting, Demba stopped scoring for Chelsea and Al-Habsi lost his place in the Wigan XI to Joel Robles, but at the end of the day a players religious views should not be a factor for buying a player, it is just something that Big Sam must consider.
Overall I feel that the signing of Salomon Kalou, should it occur, would be a very positive one for the club, I would rather sign somebody with a bit more pace and youth like Scott Sinclair, but if this deal can’t be done then Salomon Kalou would be a very good alternative.
I’ve said Kalou was a bargain since the transfer rumour popped up, we need experience, I tried asking gold on twitter about this but got no reply. Fingers crossed
It’s a no brainer luke, and not in any way a risk! He would definately be a starter more often than not, proven premier league quality and can cover the strikers position as well as playing right wing. For this reason I would prefer kalou to Sinclair. 3m is peanuts and I think if there is an opportunity to sign him we should be all over this. On top if that the guy is in his prime. Make it happen Sam and Daves!
Bigsam should sign kalou before another team does. The problem with Big sam is that he is too slow to react when this options become available.
What about Shaun Maloney surely he would be cheap too??