OPINION
West Ham are digging themselves further into a hole after it was reported that they were edging closer to signing free agent Sami Nasri due to the concerns about Jack Wilshere.
Reliable news source Claret & Hugh reported on Tuesday that due to Wilshere’s return from injury now being on hold due to him potentially requiring more surgery, Nasri’s short-term switch to the Hammers now looked nailed on.
Given that the reported reason for the Hammers moving closer to signing the 31-year-old appears to be due to injury concerns about Wilshere, it’s like the club are digging themselves further into a hole over their lack of creative midfielders if anything.
While Claret & Hugh detail that Nasri has been making good progress while training with the Hammers, there’s no denying that signing him is a risk.
The experienced player is just coming off a two-year absence from football, after being banned due to doping offences, and didn’t exactly excel before that ban.
The Daily Mail previously reported that Nasri was only training with the Hammers already due to them wanting him to prove his fitness and lose some weight, which shows he may not be ready for the demands of the Premier League in January.
The 31-year-old struggled to impress at his last club Turkish side Antalyaspor and had numerous injury problems which saw him miss 14 games (Source: Transfermarkt) for them in his 2017/18 campaign.
Given that Nasri may be an injury risk, due to his previous record and not playing recently, then signing him to replace Wilshere may be absolutely pointless.
This is because the former Manchester City player could soon find himself alongside Wilshere getting treatment in the Hammers’ medical room.
If this scenario develops then Manuel Pellegrini may still find himself short of the creative player he believes his midfield lacks and welcoming Nasri may stop him going for another player of that mould in January.
While Nasri may be useful, stepping up the pursuit for him to cover the potential absence of Wilshere just sounds like a mistake destined to backfire.
