Transfer rumours and speculation to take us through to summer.

Hamstew

Fortuneseeker said:

Have you seen the video of the guy on the bike driving into the sea or the story about him letting fireworks off when at Manchester City?

Or when he gave a homeless guy £1000 or when he (apparently) confronted a playground bully?

Hamstew

Fortuneseeker said:

Lukerz, Just 3 off the top of my head Haller, Mateta or Marega. That isn’t going for the higher profile ones like Dembele. Batshauyi has already turned us down before so he obviously doesn’t like us!

I think Marega sounds like someone we should steer well clear of. He sounds like a bit of a donkey tbh.

thornburyiron

According to SSN

West Ham have been offered the chance to sign Florian Thauvin from Marseille, according to Sky sources.

The deal that has been discussed by intermediaries would involve West Ham paying 40m euros and Javier Hernandez moving to Marseille in part exchange.

Thauvin has scored 59 goals in three seasons at Marseille after an unhappy spell at Newcastle United.

He started France’s last game alongside Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

Bazshuayi

Batshuayi :weep:

Braderz :hmm:

Now I feel I've caught up on things...


As for Balotelli, hes eccentric but undoubtedly talented with a fine goal scoring record. West Ham never had a player like that before?

For free, I'd definitely take the chance on him. As mentioned before it'll probably be short term but I reckon he'll score plenty of goals and it won't be boring...

#why always me

Cuz1

Pretty impressive goal scoring record at all but Liverpool, I just worry about dressing room harmony again long term

ianbishoplegend

Not sure about Balotelli leading the line on his own. He always looked a bit lazy and nonchalant when I saw him. Prefer him over Chicha anyday though.

ASLEFshrugged

In his first two seasons at Nice Balotelli played 66, scored 43 (33 in Ligue 1, 8 in Europe, 2 in the French "League Cup") with 24 yellows (inc. one double yellow) and three straight reds. He did enough to earn a recall to the Italian squad in May 2018 after a four year absence, played three times and scored once (Saudi Arabia) but hasn't been called up for any of the 8 matches since September.

After the summer he fell out with Patrick Vieira when he returned to the club supposedly doing a rather impressive impersonation of Benny Mac. He missed the first three games due to suspension, failed to score between the end of August and the beginning of December but managed to pick up five yellows.

He was left out of the squad for five games before being released in January to join Marseille where he improved with 8 goals in 15 and another 5 yellows. Last game of the season he bid au revoir to Marseille by coming on for Payet after an hour and getting sent off in the 87th minute.

I think I've posted this before because it looks very familiar.



If the Stoke fans warned us about Arnie's attitude I imagine we could get similar warnings from Nice, Liverpool, AC Milan, Man City and Inter fans. The man has a history of problems, he's a timebomb who would eventually go off, do we really need the hassle?

ianbishoplegend

Looked better then Gómez at holding up and linking play in that video. Think it made me like him much more!

Yeoldhammer

Balotelli would literally be an older version of Ravel Morriston. Steer clear.

ASLEFshrugged

ianbishoplegend said:

Looked better then Gómez at holding up and linking play in that video. Think it made me like him much more!

I just checked to see I'd linked the right video. If you're impressed by that then I guess we have different standards of what makes a quality player.

jay_in_cpt

Yeoldhammer said:

Balotelli would literally be an older version of Ravel Morriston. Steer clear.

I would not really want Balotelli, but that comparison is way off IMO, On the pitch Balotelli has proved himself, no one can doubt his footballing ability, the only thing RAVEL acieved on the pitch that I can remember was a superb goal V Spurs, Ok then fair play

Bazshuayi

I respect the steer clear thoughts. But to compare him to Ravel :wahoo: Ravel has achieved nothing. Balotelli has done it in different leagues and internationally. Whether hes daft as a brush or not is what they should both be linked up as

baracks_a_hammer

I’m fine with signing Balotelli plus Rondon as long as a top drawer CM is signed - the upgrade on Noble. Also we should not give Balotelli more than a year’s deal to start.

Gomez is gone now. The problem for us is that our negotiations for top price forwards takes us weeks/months. So unless we have been running parallel negotiations re Belotti or Haller, etc, we can forget it - it’s too late.

If we sign Balotelli and Rondon we would have got two strikers who are fit, scoring goals and under 30 for £16.5m - that’s a very decent outcome

MrsGrey

daft as a brush :wahoo:

Love that expression.

grey_til_I_dye

Bazshuayi said:

Whether hes daft as a brush or not is what they should both be linked up as

How very dare you? You will shortly be hearing from my learned friends...

baracks_a_hammer

Hamstew said:

So what this tells me is that we should be trying to sign Glenn Murray to solve our striker woes?

:hmm:

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

MrsGrey said:

grey_til_I_dye said:

I think Balotelli is well worth a punt,

Rav will be all over that :biggrin: :wahoo:

#TruDat

M45B :bowdown:

Oi Oi !!!

OutcastLondoner

Am I the only one who reads Marega and thinks Maiga?

Hamstew

Honestly reading about him he sounds like someone we should avoid. 100% we are signing him

alderz

Hamstew said:

11 (I think) of those were in the Championship though. I think 20 is a very unrealistic benchmark for most teams to expect from a striker in the PL. I think 15 is the mark of a very good season for a mid table striker, and I think that if we have three players getting 8 or above then that's as good as, personally (I base this on gut, not evidence).

Hamstew said:

It's ok we've got 4 forwards

No Hugill?

alderz

I've noticed on Instagram that the club are absolutely spamming people with photos of Hernandez. "Don't worry about Arnie, we've got this guy with orange hair"

Pearces_Left_Foot

Looks like Hernandez is staying hopefully we will play to his strengths. We have a lot of creative players hopefully Fornals and Wilshire will be sliding a few killer balls into him.

McHammer

Since Jan 2010 West Ham have signed 37 strikers, scoring just 199 goals in 920 games.

MrsGrey

Discussion of the Asia Trophy/tour moved to pre-season games thread here.
http://www.whu606.com/discussion/10895/pre-season-schedule-and-games

ianbishoplegend

Chicha has been given number 9 shirt and the big Ukraine fella number 7

DJ Hammer

the big Ukraine fella number 7

The Big Ukraine fella

baracks_a_hammer

Just think, in theory we could lose Arnie, Perez and AC and replace them with three full international strikers who are under 30 yo and not spend a penny in transfer fees in so doing

Balotelli
Sturbridge
Wellbeck

:hmm:

Lukerz

I don’t think we panic on the striker front. Our main forward is Hernandez & if you offered him on a free to any club outside the top 6 in the PL they would all take him. He is a class finisher & still has a decent amount of goals for us given his lack of regular starts.

We definitely need at least one more striker. Possibly two. But Hernandez & Antonio are hardly useless as forward options. Still think with the right options behind him Hernandez could get us 15 goals in a season.

IronHerb

https://twitter.com/NicoSchira/status/1148993219499372544

La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist.

OldCastleSwift

Nope. Not having it. Why would we give up the No7 and No9 shirts if we were going to sign a transfer-record breaking striker? Makes absolutely no sense to me.