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Traore enquiry is a head-scratcher

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OPINION

There’s no doubt that West Ham United have done tremendous work in the transfer market already this summer, bringing top class talents Pablo Fornals and Sebastien Haller to the club.

However, both of those are attack-minded additions, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for any new recruits in that area of the pitch, particularly given how much offensive talent was already at the club.

That’s why the club’s reported pursuit of Lyon winger Bertrand Traore is so baffling. TEAMtalk reported on Sunday that the Hammers are looking to bring the 51-cap Burkina Faso international back to the capital on a loan deal with an option to buy.

That just seems bizarre on so many levels. First of all, the fact that Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are also credited with an interest in the 23-year-old makes this one unlikely, while the fact that Manuel Pellegrini’s side are only thought to be proposing a loan deal is obviously a serious impediment to a transfer being done.

However, where the club are getting this all wrong is the area of the pitch they are seemingly attempting to strengthen. I’m sorry, but surely there are other positional groups more in need of strengthening at the London Stadium than attacking midfield?

As well as the aforementioned Fornals, the Irons also have in attacking midfield: Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio, Andriy Yarmolenko, Robert Snodgrass and Grady Diangana, while Jack Wilshere could be painted with the same sort of brush as well.

So you wonder whether, if the team did succeed in signing the former Chelsea man, whether he’d even get a game in east London? Looking at that list of players, you’d probably have to say that the answer to that is no.

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