After an amazing season, the lights have been shining on the Euro’s in France. In line with the Premier League season there have been some shock results throughout the tournament and it has been a good spectacle so far. Us West Ham fans will have been keeping up to date with the incomings and outgoings of the transfer window.
The striker situation is very complex and we have placed many bids without any coming to fruition. We have placed a bid of around €20million for Carlos Bacca that was rejected plus a bid of nearly double that for Alexandre Lacazette that ended the same way. Michy Batshuayi was another striker we have been linked with and after Crystal Palace surprised everyone with a €30million+ bid for the Marseille forward. We were quick to act and we actually bettered the bid, this as you all probably know by now was accepted and we were very close before Chelsea decided to once again steal another team’s transfer target and now the Belgian is seemingly set for Stamford bridge after passing his medical in Bordeaux earlier this week.
Other strikers that we have been linked with include Mario Gomez, Christian Benteke and Simone Zaza, but of course there are many more than that. Either way I have faith that David Sullivan, Slaven Bilic and Tony Henry will make the right choice as we have made no secret of our desire to spend big on a prolific striker.
So far this summer we have already signed two first team players that will definitely improve the squad as we go into a very important season for the club. After making over 150 appearances for Borussia Mönchengladbach between 2011 and 2016, we have signed defensive midfielder Havard Nordtveit. Formerly of Arsenal the Norwegian international can also fill in at right back and centre back if required.
For a free transfer Havard has come in as a direct replacement for Alex Song, who was below par throughout the whole of the last campaign and in my eyes that is a shroud piece of business. Just like Song, Victor Moses endured an inconsistent loan spell at the club and has also been replaced by an experienced player with immense quality in the form of Algerian international Sofiane Feghouli. The 26-year-old winger, who has spent the last six years playing at Mestalla Stadium or Valencia C.F. is also a flexible player who can play on any wing and in the number 10 role. He has represented his country on 40 occasions and he was part of the Algerian squad that made it out of the group stage of a world cup in Brazil, 2014.
The club are clearly trying to improve the squad depth and the experience of the team as we embark on another European tour. Reports suggest a transfer announcement of some description is imminent and I believe that will be Turkish winger Gokhan Tore. Slaven Bilic has worked with Tore at Besiktas and has made it clear to the club that he wants to bring him to the Olympic Stadium; the hold up in the deal is the transfer fee. Our valuation and the valuation that Besiktas have are slightly different and we are also considering a loan deal with the option to make the deal permanent, a deal identical to the one struck with Al- Jazira for Manuel Lanzini. Hopefully the deal will soon be concluded.
In terms of outgoings, Joey O’Brien, Leo Chambers, Elliot Lee, Nathan Mavila, Amos Nasha and Jordan Brown have all been released and the club have decided against making the loan deals of Emmanuel Emenike, Alex Song and Victor Moses permanent. The board are also trying to move some players on.
They hope that Enner Valencia has attracted some teams whilst playing in the Copa America and reports suggest he does have some suitors from Spain and China, however a deal is far from completed and as far as I am aware no bids have yet been placed.
A bid that has been placed is one from Sunderland for Diafra Sakho, a bid of £11million. Sakho is very unsettled at the club and is likely to move on, my understanding however is that the Sunderland bid was rejected as it did not meet our valuation. James Tomkins has reportedly not attended the pre-season tour with the club amid reports that he is going to be reunited with former hammers boss Alan Pardew in a deal worth £12million.
This would be the third highest transfer fee the club have ever received after Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard Jnr. If we were to lose these three players, although James Tomkins does have a place in the hearts of all West Ham fans, we could be looking at receiving roughly £40million in transfer fees which would mean £24million profit, which is very good business.
Two players I would be sad to see leave are Pedro Obiang and Darren Randolph. Both players are, understandably, concerned with his lack of first team opportunities and as such may be moving on in the summer. This would be very disappointing as both players have the attributes to be valuable assets to our squad especially if we want to progress in the Europa League.
Finally, a quick word on Dimitri Payet… It seems as though all of Europe’s elite clubs have an eye on our talismanic Frenchman but both he and his agent have said that Dimitri is happy at the club and it appears at the moment that Payet has verbally committed his immediate future to the club! But this is football, we are West Ham and anything can happen.
My team for next season (including transfer targets):
Join the conversation below: What striker do you want? What team would you play? What
players would sell?
