The 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:
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
