Defender James Collins is hoping for a West Ham offer to be made to see him return to the club despite Brighton and Bristol City also being keen on his services, according to a club insider.
ExWHUemployee, who regularly is spot-on with the Hammers information they provide, responded on Twitter to The Sun’s story about Manuel Pellegrini’s side considering offering the 35-year-old free agent a one-year deal to rejoin the club.
This is what he is hoping although no offer has been made for him! He has been training with the first team and trying to impress. Brighton are also lining up a serious offer if he doesn’t get a deal with us and with Bristol City also having made a serious offer too ⚒ https://t.co/t7NgDERKnn
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) August 23, 2018
The club insider stated that despite Brighton lining-up a serious offer for the Collins if the Hammers aren’t keen and the defender having a serious offer already from Bristol City to consider, that the 35-year-old was hoping for a return to the London Stadium.
It is believed that Collins has been training with the first-team trying to impress enough to make this scenario happen.
OPINION
Collins may have two other suitors circling his services but it’s clear if it was down to him that he would still be a Hammers player. The enforcer departed the Hammers in the summer after his contract expired and the club opted not to offer him a new deal to keep him. Collins who has played 241 times for the London side is loved by supporters and clearly holds the club in his heart. However it does feel like it would be a backwards step if the Hammers welcomed Collins back into fold mere months after parting with his services. While Pellegrini’s side have been torn apart at the back by Liverpool in their opening game and were defensively vulnerable against Bournemouth on Saturday, Collins isn’t the answer. The experienced defender, who stands at 6ft 2in tall (Source: Transfermarkt), managed to make only 16 appearances across all competitions in his 2017/18 campaign and lot of his outings didn’t cover him glory to say the least.
