The Next Transfer Window

OutcastLondoner

I would really Moyes not discuss Antonio's contract so openly. He has played for us for years, frustrating at times but our most important player at other times. Fine to say you're leaving it to the end of the season, not to mention his injuries and age as if you're negotiating in public. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/07/west-ham-will-wait-until-end-of-season-to-negotiate-with-michail-antonio

Antonio absolutely deserves a new contract. We're not easily going to get someone to replace him, whether that's continuing as a starter or as a sub.

Moyes talks way too much. String together a couple of wins before trying to build your media image.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I don’t think he’s said anything remotely unreasonable there, and no doubt it was in response to a question he was asked.

Not really sure what part of that is him trying to build a media image?

MIAHammer

Lukerz said:

Wonder why Ngakia didn’t just sign an extension until the end of the season & then go?

Seems nowhere lined up imminently. Could have put himself in the shop window more.

Maybe he thought he stood a better chance of a contract if they didn't see him play. :#

MrsGrey

OutcastLondoner said:

I would really Moyes not discuss Antonio's contract so openly. He has played for us for years, frustrating at times but our most important player at other times. Fine to say you're leaving it to the end of the season, not to mention his injuries and age as if you're negotiating in public. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/07/west-ham-will-wait-until-end-of-season-to-negotiate-with-michail-antonio

Antonio absolutely deserves a new contract. We're not easily going to get someone to replace him, whether that's continuing as a starter or as a sub.

Moyes talks way too much. String together a couple of wins before trying to build your media image.

That's an interesting spin in that article. From reading the club transcript report of the press conference, which may of course have left bits out, it looks like the Guardian has taken comments about Antonio and then combined them with other comments from elsewhere about planning ahead for next season, and made them seem as though Moyes has specifically spoken about Antonio's contract situation. But it might only have been a general comment. Plus, I think you are a bit harsh on Moyes- he's obligated to do the pre- match presser and the post match interview.

Edit: the mention of his age came in a positive comment that the Guardian has edited to make it look negative. Moyes said he is maturing in his decision making, but the G left the last bit off, and combined it with an editorialised mention of the player's age;

Ravel49

West Ham boss David Moyes is considering moves for Manchester United's English duo Phil Jones, 28, and Jesse Lingard, 27. (Independent)

Arsenal, West Ham and Everton are interested in 23-year-old Athletic Bilbao and Spain defender Unai Nunez. (AS, via Sport Witness)

ASLEFshrugged

MrsGrey said:

it looks like the Guardian has taken comments about Antonio and then combined them with other comments from elsewhere ...the Guardian has edited to make it look negative...that's the journalist.

I am less than impressed with Jacob Steinberg, despite claiming to be a West Ham supporter he has occasionally shown a remarkable lack of understanding about the club (and football in general).

Meanwhile The Independent claims that Moyes wants Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard, the Mirror reckons Man U want £15m for Jones and £20m for Lingard

Okay maybe Jones, even if Balbuena stays it would be useful to have a 4th CB so we don't have to play Rice there but unless we've got buyers lined up to take a load of players off our hands we really do not need another right sided midfielder (Bowen, Antonio, Yarmolenko, Diangana, Snodgrass) or attacking midfielder (Fornals, Lanzini)

Lukerz

I don’t think Moyes meant much by it, but I imagine it was more a motivational tactic for Antonio. Moyes seems to have a habit of not settling for what’s happening & pushing people to try & go further with their performances & contributions. He seems reluctant to say ‘he’s been brilliant, what a player’ or ‘when we stay up, we will sit down with Antonio & try and keep him as he is a vital player’ but more put the idea in his head ‘if you want that new contract, you need to keep us up & continue performing, then we’ll have a think’. Almost like the emphasis needs to be on him.

I‘m hoping Moyes knows how Antonio works, & that he would react to that kinda thing. Let’s be honest, he got the best out of Arnie whilst here, so let’s hope it’s a good bit of man management ahead of some crucial games.

Not really sure, given our position this season, any player should be in a guaranteed position to be rewarded with a new contract.

alderz

On the subject of contracts, my #spreadsheet tells me that these are the expiry dates for our current players (I'm only including youth players who have made first team appearances for us or out on loan):

2020: Tomas Soucek, Aji Alese, Josh Cullen

2021: Lukasz Fabianski, Roberto, Fabian Balbuena, Issa Diop, Ben Johnson, Robert Snodgrass, Mark Noble, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Michail Antonio, Xande Silva, Dapo Afolayan

2022: David Martin, Angelo Ogbonna, Ryan Fredericks, Felipe Anderson, Nathan Holland, Mesaque Dju, Jordan Hugill

2023: Darren Randolph, Winston Reid, Aaron Cresswell, Conor Coventry, Manuel Lanzini, Albian Ajeti

2024: Goncalo Cardoso, Arthur Masuaku, Pablo Fornals, Declan Rice, Sebastien Haller

2025: Jarrod Bowen, Grady Diangana

Concerning that like 8 first team squad players are out of contract at the end of next season (or potentially gives us an opportunity to rebuild this summer with sales to avoid free transfers next year)

Lukerz

I am surprised Moyes has not used Masuaku more.

I think he ultimately needs to make a decision on him. He was only recently rewarded with a new contract. He either needs to be good enough as a LB or sold. I think, with patience & in the right team, he will be a top LB/LWB.

ASLEFshrugged

alderz - we triggered a a 1 year extension on Cullen's contract in March

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Is Alese not one of our best prospects? he won the Dylan Tombides award last season for us....surely we will renew his contract

Alderz, few amendments for your spreadsheet

Diop is signed up till 2023, Yarmolenko till 2022 and pretty sure Johnson signed a contract till 2022

We also have a 12 month extension for Snodgrass and Fabianski

So next summer it's actually Antonio, Noble, Balbuena, Wilshere, Roberto, Silva and Afolayan (and Cullen)

Of the above, Antonio is the only player we should be worried about.

Wilshere isnt a big player for us and i dont have any doubts that Noble will renew no matter what contract we give him

Balbuena, Wilshere and Roberto should all be sold if we can find buyers, which imo is unlikely. I would also look to sell Cullen and Silva, they are 24 and 23 respectively and I dont think either will cut it in the prem (if Silva cant get any game time now). Maybe put some sell on fee on them so if they do realise their potential we could pocket some extra cash.

alderz

Good stuff ASLEF and Champo

I've not been updating often in the past few months

ASLEFshrugged

I don't think we would have activated the 1 year extension on Cullen's contract in March just to sell him in the summer, i think Moyes might be thinking of him as a Noble replacement/back up to Soucek/Rice

He's certainly got the look of a young Markie Mark

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Think full backs are a glaring area of weakness

Think Frederick's and cresswell can do a job as back ups, but neither are good enough for starting position

Masuaku value has likely dropped but we could still get a decentish fee (around £8mil) that could be invested into a new LB

If we can beat Burnley tonight, I'd like to see Johnson given a run, see if hes up to the challenge

buffybegood

Even if we got £8m for Masuaku, can't see us spending more than that on a replacement tbh, FB is a position that G&S have historically spent very little.

OutcastLondoner

I would be so surprised if Cullen made it. I think the Championship's his level. Not sure that he's going to be good enough to replace Mark Noble if he's 24 and has never really meaningfully broken into the first team. Noble had 3/4 seasons by this point.

Hammerdublin

From what I've seen, Cullen is very underestimated and we simply have to give him game time. Himself and Diangana should be playing a lot next year, hopefully, in the Premier League.

ASLEFshrugged

What we need is another left sided midfielder, at the moment its a choice of Anderson or playing someone out of their natural position

Yeoldhammer

all a bit moot till we know what division we are going to be in. The only sure thing is that there will be a clear out one way or the other.

ASLEFshrugged

Yeoldhammer said:

all a bit moot till we know what division we are going to be in. The only sure thing is that there will be a clear out one way or the other.

Except we don't know that there will be a "clear out", unless we are prepared to let players leave for bargain prices it could be a very quiet summer for transfers.

Yeoldhammer

I don't believe Moyes comes back a second time without some promises going into the summer, i think the compromise will be sell to buy and i think Moyes would clear out loads of players, Championship or PL.

alderz

Yeoldhammer said:

I don't believe Moyes comes back a second time without some promises going into the summer, i think the compromise will be sell to buy and i think Moyes would clear out loads of players, Championship or PL.

Promises made before COVID will probably be null and void for a lot of clubs.

ASLEFshrugged

Yeoldhammer said:

I don't believe Moyes comes back a second time without some promises going into the summer, i think the compromise will be sell to buy and i think Moyes would clear out loads of players, Championship or PL.

If we have to "sell to buy" then we are going to need buyers for "loads of players". To attract buyers we'd probably have to reduce the asking price and if we do sell them then we'll be left with a limited budget to buy replacements

Sounds like a perfect recipe for relegation in 2021

If we get relegated then I imagine "loads of players" will put in transfer requests but as a Championship team we aren't going to attract the same calibre of players we would as a Premier League team.

alderz

The sources are rubbish, but if it’s true that Haller’s strike partner is available for £31m then that should be our priority this summer. We need another striker, and we need to find a way to make Haller more effective. Two birds, one stone.

EXETERHAMMER

Seems like Anderson is now out of favour. Sell him and get Jovic

ASLEFshrugged

1) Anderson has been out with a hamstring since the Chelsea match

2) Jovic is a striker, Anderson is our only out-and-out left winger, if we're going to sell him we really need to buy someone to replace him rather than playing someone out of position.

3) I'm not sure we'd get £31m if we tried to sell Anderson

alderz

Being an out and out anything isn’t enough when you play terribly every week. I’d rather not have a left midfielder and play a different system than be forced to play an underperformer because there’s no other option.

ASLEFshrugged

I have no objection to selling Anderson but if we do we need a replacement who hopefully doesn't "play terribly every week" and Jovic isn't a left winger

Currently our squad has plenty of players who are good options down the right side but very little on the left and I'm struggling to remember a successful asymmetrical formation.



----------------------------------------------------------------------



Actually ignore all that, it seems Diangana has been playing almost entirely on the left at WBA so we have our Anderson replacement sorted.

Maybe have a punt on QPR's Eberechi Eze to give him some competition and see if we can flog off Anderson to Pellegrini at Real Betis (throw in Wilshere for free)

whupathman

would moyes play 2 upfront despite the fact they are a proven pair, where is my dinosaur emoji

Lukerz

I reckon Moyes would want a new CM.

He’ll be looking at a side like this:

Fabianski
Fredericks - CB - Ogbonna - LB
Bowen - CM - Rice - Lanzini
Soucek
Haller/Antonio

I fully expect him to start to convert Soucek into a Cahill/Fellaini type option for us, if we stay up.

I don’t think Anderson is going to have a long term future here. Lanzini may do as he has history with Moyes & Moyes knows what he can do.

To be honest, I am not convinced Moyes will keep Haller. I don’t think he’s shown anywhere near as what Antonio has of late.