I Heard A Rumour
Keeping tabs on West Ham transfer rumours seemed like a fun idea at the outset. It would be an amusing distraction during the long summer days and nights as the Hammers sought to rebuild their squad out of the shambles left behind by the Scottish manager.
But the early enthusiasm is rapidly becoming as tiresome as a general election campaign. I had bargained on the flow of rumours settling down after an initial flurry, but the speculation shows no sign of slowing. It’s not, though, the number of rumours themselves that cause the distress. It’s having to wade through three-paragraphs of discharge on the background to Julen Lopetegui’s appointment before getting to the point of the story. Is there an Artificial Irrelevance engine that churns out this stuff?
Following another record week of gossip, we have now reached 86 potential targets – and there are sure to be some I have missed altogether. Still, I’ve started so I’ll finish – in the hope that in the real-world Tim Steidten is quietly masterminding recruitment behind the scenes.
There are two deviations in this week’s rumours. The first is that wonderkids have been replaced in the headlines by starlets, although it is not obvious what the differences are. Perhaps a starlet is a little older or a little bit less exciting than a wonderkid. The second is the slightly more worrying trend of the Hammers being linked to assorted detritus deemed surplus to requirements at other Premier League clubs. Dominic Calvert-Lewis, Callum Wilson and a clutch of Arsenal academy rejects, for example. The type of players who would have been on the previous manager’s shopping list. Forget your new-fangled data driven analysis, these guys might be too old, injury prone, or not much good, but hey, they do have Premier League experience.
The pursuit of Wes Foderingham is turning into a classic long running West Ham transfer saga. Quite what data needs to be crunched to sign a veteran, 3rd choice, emergency use only goalkeeper is anyone’s guess. Perhaps a check of his stats can confirm whether he is competent enough at putting the cones out during training.
Magnificent Seven Signings Needed In The Next Four Weeks
With the fixtures now issued, the tick of the clock is gradually sounding louder. It is only 54 days to the start of the new season, and 26 days to the first friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge. As things stand, Luis Guilherme is the only new arrival – nad he has been signed for potential rather than immediate impact. Time looks short for bringing in the required number of bodies and getting them organised to play the way the coach wants them to. Otherwsie a slow start to the season is guaranteed.
I was not a scholar of the way that Lopetegui played during his time at Wolves. A general summary of his preferred approach is: playing out from the back, adopting a high back-line, providing width from the full-backs, keeping hold of possession and energetic pressing. If that is the aim at West Ham, then very few of the current squad are equipped to deliver it. The only obvious contenders are Alphonse Areola, Edson Alvarez, Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, and Lucas Paqueta. While Vladimir Coufal, Dinos Mavropanos, Emerson, James Ward-Prowse, and Tomas Soucek can provide useful backup, they don’t feel like starters in such a system to me. The assumption is that both Ben Johnson and Nayef Aguerd will be leaving anyway.
It represents quite a gap between desire and reality – even worse if some of the chosen few are tempted away or sacrificed in order to raise funds. This would leaves major priorities as a completely new backline, a mobile defensive minded midfielder, and a striker or two. As a minimum, a further seven signings are needed on board – and quickly.
My Kingdom For A Striker
I counted at least four number one transfer targets in the media during the week. My impression of the most persistent of the very many links seemingly being Max Kilman, Ryan Sessegnon, Youssef En-Nesyri, and Jayden Oosterwolde.
Although estimates of transfer kitty size should always be taken with a pinch of salt, I am not convinced that splurging a significant part of whatever funds are available on Kilman would be a wise move. If the fee is as reported in the £35 – £40 million range, there must be better value out there for a central defender. If big money is going to be spent in any position it has to be for a striker. West Ham’s woes in that department over the past dozen years or so is the stuff of legend. A revolving door of non-scoring duds. It is the most important position to get right and unfortunately, the most difficult one to fill on a budget.
None of the striker names tat have been mentioned so far really get the juices flowing. And there are several that I hope have zero foundation to them, including Calvert-Lewin, Abrahams, and Wilson. Of the other players linked none have been especially prolific throughout their careers. I can understand why the familiarity of En-Nesyri would appeal to Lopetegui as a known quantity for his system, but he has never caught the eye when I have seen him play. Perhaps taking a gamble (no pun intended) on Ivan Toney would be the smart move despite his poor form after serving his ban – as well as the worry that he might well re-offend. At his best Toney is an excellent all-round striker with an ability to link up play and a healthy goalscoring record.
There does seem to be an incompatibility about the rather deseparate situation West Ham find themselves in on transfers. If you need to bring in many new players as early as possible in the window, then the opportunity to hold out for the best deals is limited – especially where there is competition for signature. But if you end up paying top dollar to get your man, there is less money remaining to satisfy the other gaps needed to be filled. A few minor miracles are required from Tim.
Naturally, the situation is not helped by the ongoing uncertainty over the future of Paqueta. Surely, even the Saudis wouldn’t be dumb enough to cough up a barrel load of oil money while the risk of world-wide ban is still a possibility. Incidentally, the latest from Paqueta Island is that no suspicious activity on the timing of polling day was found, but a lot has been staked on the Prime Minister being awarded a green card after the election.
This week’s list of unlikley transfer targets is shown below. You can see the entire 86 names here.
Under The Hammers 
Hi Jeff, very good and I have to say th
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Great read Geoff thank you.
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The Newsnow feed is 95% clickbait. An ‘amazing’ player, usually turns out usually to be Fotheringham, after one comment by Klopp (who likes to say ‘amazing’). The Euros, though, have come at a handy time. As teams start being eliminated, I think TS will be doing his rounds 😉
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True, the sensible thing to do would be to ignore the more prolific rumour sites which simply parrot some random guys tweet and then copy from each other. Interesting point about the Euros but can’t help wondering whether once players become established internationals they are outside our price range. We can afford maybe pne or two higher price tag players but the rest will need to more modestly priced – hopefully emerging talents.
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I imagine we’ll be looking for, as you say, emerging talents, since that’s a major aspect of Steidten’s approach. I think his return to home turf could be productive for us in terms of finding bargains, and there are also some talented players at the Euros who won’t be commanding big fees…The Paqueta business has, I feel, been a game changer for the club. But I still feel optimistic about the new regime despite all the craziness filling for the time being the news void!
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I am largely optimistic about the club’s direction of travel. But I do have a concern that with all the new faces required and the need to adapt to a new way of playing will take quite a while to bed down. A slow start to the season will not go down well with a large section of the support who might not regard Lopetegui as their first choice. There will be a honeymoon period but not a long one
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Hi John
Most of the pieces on the Newsnow site are so frustrating to look at (clickbait as you say) but I still find myself drawn to look at them – but mostly a waste of time.
And if it is true do we really need Sheffield United’s ‘amazing’ goalkeeper?
I just hope that we can add to our depleted squad sooner rather than later. I wonder if any of the (approaching 100) names that Geoff has identified are London Stadium bound? Hopefully we are working on others under the radar.
Of course things were different back in the day but I always remember our signing of Phil Parkes, a world record fee for a goalkeeper (not for the first time we did that) – I found out after the event from the London Evening News on my way home from work.
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And what a bargain Phil Parkes turned out to be. He is for sure the keeper in my ‘ all time’ WHU X1.
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Yes Phil Parkes was the best West Ham keeper I ever saw Mike. I saw Ernie Gregory at the end of his career – my dad always rated him as one of the best he ever saw.
Incidentally my neighbour (in his nineties now) is the son of Ted Hufton the West Ham keeper in the 1923 White Horse Final. Apparently he was one of the best we’ve ever had but I can’t verify that!
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I’m pretty sure I saw Ernie Gregory too. The first time I ever went to the Boleyn ground in about 1957,possibly ‘58. Would that be right time wise? I remember ( at least Ithink I do) that Dick and Keeble were up front, but I can’t remember anything or anyone else. Still suffering after all these years!
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Mike – yes Ernie Gregory was in goal in my first visit to Upton Park aged 4 – the Malcolm Allison testimonial game in November 1958. The 1958-59 season was effectively his last – he played 32 games, although he did turn out for a final time the following season for just one game. Noel Dwyer and Brian Rhodes shared the goalkeeping duties in 1959-60 – neither a patch on Gregory in my opinion.
John Dick, my first favourite player did indeed play up front with Vic Keeble at the time. Dick was a tremendous goalscorer – I remember lots of left footed goals and he was superb in the air. He scored 153 league goals for us in 326 games – I was very sad when we sold him to (I think) Brentford in 1963 ish. I even had a West Ham shirt (the old V neck one at the time) for Christmas in 1958 – my mum sowed a number 10 on the back. I wore it on Christmas Day when I attended my first ever league game when we beat Tottenham 2-1 – with goals from Dick and Keeble. Vic Keeble was prolific too scoring 45 goals in 76 league games before an injury forced him to retire from football aged just 30.
Great memories for a young boy.
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Hi Richard, Phil Parkes was worth every penny – and then some. I enjoy going through Geoff’s lists and trust a few will come our way. But I’m perhaps more concerned that we keep our best players. It was almost a relief to read Alvarez is out for a few weeks!
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You’re spot on there John – there are a few that we don’t want to lose. Inevitably though I suspect players like Alvarez and Kudus were initially tempted by European football and if we don’t return at the end of the forthcoming season …..
Kudus apparently (allegedly) has an £85 million release clause next summer. Another good season and that could be an issue.
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Alvarez is for me, the rock everything can be built on. Important to keep him. Then there’s the flow of kids that will hopefully start from the Academy. Hoping George Earthy is just the start!
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For a team with such a successful Academy in recent times it’s sad that so few seem to have broken through. George Earthy certainly looked the part in his brief appearances. I have high hopes for Callum Marshall who has returned to the club from his loan – he already has 4 full Northern Ireland caps.
Let’s hope there are more to come John.
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Scored against Denmark too on his international debut. What a prospect!
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…never mind the VAR… 😉
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For the time being I think we have to accept that our best players will move on to big six clubs if they are a success. Losing them after just one year should be avoided and hopefully there are no buyout clauses that kick-in before 2 seasons.
It would be a disaster if we lost either Alvarez or Kudus this summer. We would end up looking like a promoted club who have hired 11 strangers to compete at the top level. Integrating six or seven new signings will be tough enough.
Got to believe some of the academy players can start to make a mark this year. Only really watched highlights but Earthy, Orford, and Rigge all look very good footballers. Scarles looked promising a year or so back but has gone very quiet since. I am not sure about Marshall. Clearly has been an accomplished finisher at youth level but couldn’t make an impression at West Brom. Has a very awkward running style which would have put Brian Clough off.
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Wasn’t it Ferguson who was put off by running style? That’s why he wasn’t interested in Jordan Henderson?
I like players who know how to score goals – I reckon Marshall will be a good player – but time will tell – always difficult to predict- he wasn’t really given a chance at WBA.
But as you say Geoff / John – hopefully some Academy players will begin to come through.
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It was one of the many Cloughie anecdotes that he left a scouting trip early because he didn’t like the way the player he came to watch ran. I didn’t know that Fergie held a similar perspective.
Hopefully, Marshall can progress to senior level. The West Brom manager didn’t think he was ready for Championship level. Maybe another loan for him. Two others to consider are Freddie Potts who had a successful loan at Wycombe and the strange case of Andy Irving who was signed last summer and loaned out immediately in Austria.
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Calafiori from your list impressed last night, Geoff. Good assist after a fine run. Hlozek looks skilful, though he seems to be more an assist king. Paqueta was the one bright light for Brazil against Costa Rica. He looked very good. What on earth is going on there…I find it odd that Betway remains our sponsor. But I guess that’s business.
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Calafiori from your list impressed last night, Geoff. Good assist after a fine run. Hlozek looks skilful, though he seems to be more an assist king. Paqueta was the one bright light for Brazil against Costa Rica. He looked very good. What on earth is going on there…I find it odd that Betway remains our sponsor. But I guess that’s business.
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We have been linked with some very good players. Just unclear how many of them are genuine interest or whether they are in our price range. I believe we were supposed to have been interested in Hlozek before he went to Leverkusen but as you say he is not an out and out striker. Calafiori looks interesting too.
I’m guessing the Paqueta situation will rumble on for some months. So, expecting to have him playing for West Ham in the opening months of the season by default. Of course, that could be wide of the mark. It’s odd that with so much interest in Brazillian players at the moment, the national team looks a bit ordinary.
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