TRANSFER WINDOW KLAXON - stand clear, this window is now closed

Hammerwombat

OldCastleSwift said:

dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-5335207/West-Ham-director-sparks-race-row-African-stars.html

Just gets better and better at this club ;doh

I look forward to the daily mail and everybody involved in this rubbish backing it up and seeing it through. Utter cobblers imho

thornburyiron

If that story is true OCS he should be sacked immediately. As director of transfers he isn't going to be missed.

thornburyiron

Jay I'm not sure what you mean

tomkinsworldclass

thornburyiron said:

If that story is true OCS he should be sacked immediately. As director of transfers he isn't going to be missed.

you mean sullivan and his agents ;wink ;wink ;wink ;wink

jay_in_cpt

Thorn, I was referring to the reporter who took about 4 attempts, to get Reece Oxford, Burke & Makasi to their correct clubs!!

thornburyiron

We had a "wonder kid" last season in Fletcher, got rid in the summer and Middlesbrough have now loaned him out to Sunderland.

Huttonhammer

If somebody had told me that we would actually make money and end up with less players at the club at the end of this window I would have said they were mad.

Hamstew

Check out @kyle_toby’s Tweet:

https://twitter.com/kyle_toby/status/958832247481733126

alderz

So, is this Hugill signing, or what?

FlorinRaduclious

WINDOW CLOSED!!

Have we signed Hugill?
Have any others been allowed to leave?
Have we convinced Ronaldinho to suspend his retirement?
Or anything / anybody else happened on the down low?

Guess we'll find out in the next hour!

Don't go to bed.

IronHerb

Ex says it's a done deal and he's seen the photos.

FlorinRaduclious

But has he also seen the #tapes?

thornburyiron

The African issue is now all over Sky. Henry has got to be sacked immediately but of course he will claim it's the policy of the board so we are going to be dragged through the mud, if not the courts.
Let's hope it was just his opinion and the club can put the lid on this quickly with his dismissal.

ianbishoplegend

I am actually happy with the current team. The guy from Belgium looked good with right and left pegs, we don't play to his strengths though. I prefer Zabaleta in DM to anyone mentioned for sale. Really happy that Ayew and Sakho have gone. With the Portuguese fella, and Lanzini, Arnie and Antonio returning, we have a very balanced midfield. I dont understand the twitter meltdown at all. People seem to just want a champions league star signed for over 20 million, or its the end of their life as West Ham fans.

whupathman

He should have enough common sense not to come out with that rubbish, whatever the person telling him said, you just say we are not interested in a player, stupid man, stupid club doing this

welovethehammers

I'll be really frustrated if we recall Oxford from his loan in a month's time.

On paper the idea of him going to Germany is a great one. It gets him away from speculation and hopefully he can develop there. However in reality what has happened is there's constant speculation of if we want him, if we are going to sell him to Monchengladbach etc, if we are going to recall him etc. This constant uncertainty cannot be good for him. It's just mucking about and shows a lack of a structured, coherent development plan. Can't be doing him any favours and doesn't really provide him with much confidence that we want him. It's no different to being interested in buying a player and the transfer talk unsettling a particular player.

As I said, I can see Oxford getting a game or two for Monchengladbach and then we will unsettle him and bring him back due to lack of squad depth.

Sorry to sound like such a negative Nancy. I secretly hope I'm proved wrong.

mike

Deadline gone and nothing about hugill ?

Yeoldhammer

its official on the OS

Yeoldhammer

https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/january/31-january/west-ham-united-sign-centre-forward-jordan-hugill

ianbishoplegend

Huttonhammer said:

Last minute on deadline day and the player had been mentioned by nobody. Sounds like panic. He isn’t pulling up any trees at Preston. What on earth is there to say he can play in a struggling premier league team. One goal in four won’t help us.

I haven't seen us struggling in the last two months. In my eyes, we finally have a like for like replacement for Carroll. I think its a wise signing rather than panic.

ASLEFshrugged

From Sky Sports

West Ham are looking into a report alleging the use of discriminatory language by the club's director of player recruitment.

We have a director of player recruitment?!?!?!?!?

Cuz1

Maybe also charge him with not being very good

MarkNobleLocalHero

As I see nothing to the contrary it seems that Ginge is still with us ;clap ;wahoo

I can therefore conclude that it has been a great transfer window.

He is one of our greats and as good as one of our own. A low point yesterday was hearing the rumour of his potential departure. That would have been a disaster

A no thrills fully committed defender and getting better with age. Get this man a new contract...NOW. ;bowdown

buffybegood

Very underwhelmed, what was a small squad at the start of the season and is now, as usual, decimated by injuries, has seen two in and two out, but still no action taken to address the need (even more pressing following Obiang's injury) of a DM. We supposedly were close to spending a lot of money on Carvalho in the summer but ran out of time. So there was obviously an identified need for such a player (to spend big money on a defensive player it must have been a desperate need), nothing this season has suggested that need has disappeared, and yet we manage to get through the whole window being linked to Dendoncker and don't get it across the line.

On paper the 2 in are probably more suited to Moyes than the 2 out (Mario > Ayew and Hugill > Wantaway Sakho), but to have finished the window with a negative net spend says a lot about how much the board want us to progress as a club imo. We're short of players, we've a load of injuries, and yet we manage to make a profit on the window for the second January running after only paying a fee for 2 senior players in the summer.

baracks_a_hammer

Looking at what has gone on, it seems the owners have pretty much written off this season. This window I think was about clearing the decks and getting rid of those not contributing.

I think part two of this exercise will be done in the summer - AC really needs to go, and perhaps Hernandez too if he doesn’t deliver in Moyes’ system. If some or all of this happens, then the base will have been reset.

OldCastleSwift

So, by my reckoning, we had the following ‘first team’ players at the beginning of the January transfer window:

Hart
Adrian

Byram (injured)
Zabaleta
Cresswell
Fonte (injured)
Collins
Reid
Ogbonna
Rice
Oxford
Burke

Noble
Kouyate
Obiang
Fernandes (injured)
Cullen

Lanzini
Arnautovic
Antonio (injured)
Masuaku

Hernandez
Martinez
Carroll
Ayew
Sakho

26 players, 22 available (20 outfield)


By the end of the window, our first team squad looks like this:


Hart
Adrian

Byram
Zabaleta
Cresswell
Fonte
Collins
Reid (injured)
Ogbonna
Rice
Oxford
Burke

Noble
Kouyate
Obiang (injured – out for the season)
Fernandes (injured)
Cullen

Lanzini (injured)
Arnautovic (injured)
Antonio
Masuaku (banned for 6 matches)
Mario

Hernandez
Hugill
Martinez
Carroll (injured – out for the season)
Ayew
Sakho

23 players, 16 players available (14 outfield)


We have actively weakened our squad. How anyone can say this has been a good window for anyone other than the Sullivans is beyond me.

£24m in from the sale of Ayew and Sakho.

£13m spend on Mario and Hugill.

I suspect Hugill is on no more than the £30k p/w we were paying Sakho, and the £105k p/w we're reportedly paying Mario will be covered in the main by the £90k p/w we're now not paying Ayew.

So, even if we allow for the extra £15k a week we're paying Mario for the 16 weeks that he'll be here, that's only £240k more, set against the £11m profit on sales.

Now I know injuries have played their part, but they happened early enough for us to get something done. Even with Obiang, there were four days to get someone in to cover him, but instead we're left with two senior CMs. An injury to either Noble or Kouyate and Cullen is a PL starter (or we play Zaba or Rice out of position).

I admire people's positivity, I really do, and I wish I could share it, but the business we've done is poor, IMO. Mario, who is effectively Ayew's replacement, will have to be replaced himself in the summer because there's no way we're meeting the £39m option on him. We'll need a new GK because we won't be retaining Hart. That's not to mention the DM that we will still need for the third window running. The board have already put themselves under pressure to get the business done in the summer because of their failures this month (and, arguably, in August).

I was honestly hoping I'd be feeling better this morning abot the whole sorry affair, but I actually feel worse.

Apologies for the grumbling.

If we win on Saturday I'll feel better.

But we won't.

I'm going now.

Bye.

Huttonhammer

Jorderz

He is now a West Ham player and I would want any player to do well for the club and if he does become the next Dean Ashton then great.

My view though is that we signed a player who has played for not one decent team and has an average record in the championship. He is not going to compete with any of the players already at West Ham for a place in my view and I dont see how he could have been scouted for very long or we would have gone for him early in the transfer window. We must have had money spare as we had money for Carvalho in the last window but messed up the signing.

If you think about it with the money we did not spend on Carvalho and the money from the sale of Ayew our board could have gone for a much better player but the board must be rubbing their hands together and congratulating each other on the money they are making for themselves.

The fact we have a paper thin squad doesn't matter to them it seems. The 17 richest club buying mediocre players from Preston how absolutely fantastic.

OldCastleSwift

Buffy ;ok I was busy typing my rant so didn’t see your comment, but obviously we’re on the same page. The Carvalho/Dendoncker debacle is bothering me so much. If we really wanted Carvalho we’d have got the deal done in the four months between the windows and signed him on the 1st January. Likewise, if we really want Dendoncker, we can strike a deal with Anderlecht now to sign him in the summer, but I can almost guarantee that won’t happen.

It feels, and I stress feels, that we are being strung along and I really don’t like it.

MrsGrey

IronHerb said:

Ex says it's a done deal and he's seen the photos.

Is this the ex that said we weren't signing anyone?

MrsGrey

As bbb pointed out, it is unlikely we actually trousered any money for Ayew. Just that what we were supposed to pay (installment) over the next few seasons has now been taken off the IOU column.

Can't agree with the 'weakening' comments. 2 out, 2 in plus (compared to the beginning of the season) 2 kids who look like the manager thinks are good enough to help us on more than just a 'warm body on the bench' level.

I was never of the opinion we should buy players to cover for injuries unless it is an injury that rules a player out for a really long time. Plus I have felt for a while that we have been a bit over-supplied in the forwards department.

I think some of the changes in plans from the summer to now might have been occasioned by (a) it's January - a whole different kettle of fish and (b) a new manager wants to put his own stamp on the squad.

I am outraged if those Tony Henry comments turn out to have foundation. Sack him, right now.

But most importantly, Hamstew owes me a Curly Wurly because I won our bet. ;wahoo