The January Transfer Window

alderz

Cuz1 said:

Sure I read they were either loaning him back or paying off his contract, not sure where I read it though

I googled it and Ex said on a podcast in mid-December that he is coming back and will be sold if possible - which doesn't seem surprising at all.

Cuz1

Thanks mate think it said Kansas wouldn’t or couldn’t buy him

IronHerb

Word perfect I think you'll find.

Yeoldhammer

alderz said:

Gossip column suggests Hamza Choudhury will be allowed to leave Leicester in January. I think he’d be a great signing, and would offer genuine competition and rotation to Rice and Soucek. Newcastle are linked, but I’d be very happy with signing him

Lundstram would be a better bet out of contract with Sheffield United.

Lukerz

Fabianski, Balbuena, Snodgrass now free to discuss deals with other clubs not in England.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Doubt Houdhury would want to come, surely the reason he wants to leave is he isn't getting enough gamete

Doubt he would be happy playing as backup to Rice/Soucek, and I also doubt moyes would change his formation to 3 holding midfielders to squeeze them all in

Cuz1

Unless one is leaving

ScotHammer

Cuz1 said:

Unless one is leaving

Don’t even think it!

Lukerz

We do need another CM. Smart option would be Lundstrum. Available on a free in the summer which would mean he is likely to be available for a knock-down price. As a result he’s not playing for Sheff Utd. Think he was at Everton under Moyes too as a youngster. Can play CB & CM, which is handy given we like using a back 3. Unlikely Choudhury would probably be a no on the basis that Leicester will know he will be behind Rice & Soucek every week, so will have limited game time.

Also need to decide what we want to do with our keeper. Do we hand him another year or two (given he has now picked up a third injury in the last year & a bit)? Or do we start looking now for a keeper to replace him? Surely there’s only so long Dean Henderson is going to sit on the bench at United?

IronHerb

Are we going to spend £20m on Henderson? Don't think so.

Lukerz

Which is a shame, as it’s not a lot of money to sort your keeper position out for the next decade.

yoyo

We have to plan for the inevitable future without Rice and Fabianski now

baracks_a_hammer

IronHerb said:

Are we going to spend £20m on Henderson? Don't think so.

If Pickford went for £30m plus I doubt £20m will even be close to the asking price. Which makes it even more unlikely!

ASLEFshrugged

alderz said:

Winston Reid's loan to Kansas will have ended now, won't it? I'm pretty sure it was to the end of the year. In theory he could be registered again now. I hope he can come back and be anything like his old self, he's my favourite.

It was reported 3 weeks ago that Kansas City were trying to negotiate another season loan but it doesn't look as if that is going to happen as apparently they have made a £4m bid for a 25yo Norwegian CB

Claret and Hugh reckons that the club may try to release him on a mutual but didn't give any supporting evidence

If Diop goes to Nice maybe Reid could take his place on the bench

IronHerb

baracks_a_hammer said:

IronHerb said:

Are we going to spend £20m on Henderson? Don't think so.

If Pickford went for £30m plus I doubt £20m will even be close to the asking price. Which makes it even more unlikely!

At least Pickford was playing first team football. Henderson, as it stands, is a one season wonder.

Cuz1

Imo don’t think Reid will ever wear the shirt again except maybe only in a testimonial

baracks_a_hammer

If we are looking at someone to back up and ease the load on Rice and Soucek, IMO we could do worse than consider Gustavo Harmer of Coventry city.

Dodger58

I don’t understand why we need to find another keeper, we have two highly rated young keepers in out Academy, surely we want to be encouraging one of them to step up. In reality we are looking more for next season than this and Randolph is an adequate back up to Fab.

Most Hammers fans are proud of our ability to develop our own, so why block their opportunity to progress?

ASLEFshrugged

Harmer only joined Coventry in the summer and he's done okay. Not noted for his aerial presence, possibly because he's 5' 6"/169cm and he's currently top of the Championship for fouls per game (average 2.5).

alderz

I’ve always felt it dangerous to have a very obvious first and second string. I understand what you all are saying about Choudhury wanting first team football, but I don’t really want us to be signing players that are obvious backups. At the moment we NEED Soucek and Rice to stay fit and in form and play every game. I’d rather we had someone keeping them on their toes, someone who can be rotated in and out of the side with them. I think the way you press forward as a club is to replace your backups with players of genuine first team aspirations. Choudhury would be a great option to have in midfield, instead of turning to Noble or Snodgrass, both of whom I love but are no longer of sufficient quality.

ASLEFshrugged

Dodger58 said:

Most Hammers fans are proud of our ability to develop our own, so why block their opportunity to progress?

We don't have much to be proud about, Rice is the only player to establish himself as a first team regular since Tomkins.

Dodger58

I agree Aslef the cupboard has been bare, but if you don’t give them the opportunity they cannot step up. If we take Ashby and Longelo as examples, why do we need to buy in a LWB? Are we going to get someone significantly better for the funds available? Or should we give them the chance to step up?

I used the goalkeeping example above as I have seen rumours of other Premier League clubs being interested in Anand for the future, so if they are, why would we create another ‘block’ ahead of him.

Lukerz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Dodger58 said:

Most Hammers fans are proud of our ability to develop our own, so why block their opportunity to progress?

We don't have much to be proud about, Rice is the only player to establish himself as a first team regular since Tomkins.

You can add Johnson & Diang to that list...

OutcastLondoner

Stanislas was a solid PL player in the end. Maybe not always a starter but actually as good as many players who have passed through since he left. Ngakia has a chance of coming back up with Watford.

Our expectations of our academy are clearly a bit beyond what it has delivered but I think that’s also a bit to do with the way the Premier League is. Only a few clubs and managers have given young players a chance.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

I’ve always felt it dangerous to have a very obvious first and second string. I understand what you all are saying about Choudhury wanting first team football, but I don’t really want us to be signing players that are obvious backups. At the moment we NEED Soucek and Rice to stay fit and in form and play every game. I’d rather we had someone keeping them on their toes, someone who can be rotated in and out of the side with them. I think the way you press forward as a club is to replace your backups with players of genuine first team aspirations. Choudhury would be a great option to have in midfield, instead of turning to Noble or Snodgrass, both of whom I love but are no longer of sufficient quality.

Excellent point alderz, and I completely agree. A third, top class CM would allow rotation and reduce the risk of burn out or injury. And if we adopt this policy we increase our chances of getting European football by having a stronger, deeper squad, which would in turn mean more games, more rotation and more pitch time for each player. Win-win in my, admittedly simplistic, view.

As for the 'keeper situation, I think we'll move for Slavia Prague's Kolar in the summer. He's 26, has performed well domestically and in the European competitions, is part of the international set-up and, probably most importantly, plays for a club that Sullivan has yet to mess around or fail to pay.

ScotHammer

Give Sullivan a break. He’s got another six months yet to mess Slavia Prague about!

alderz

I read earlier that Fabianski has said he’s expecting to sign a two year extension soon and that both him and the club want it to happen.

Darren Randolph has a couple of years left on his deal already. Nathan Trott is highly thought of, but he probably need to get another season of league football under his belt. His only experience was at Wimbledon last year.

I’d be surprised to see us target a keeper anytime soon.

For me, the areas we need to strengthen are LB, CM and ST. We rely on four players to cover those four positions, and without them we have a serious drop off in quality. In all other positions we have what I would consider adequate cover and depth

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

I read earlier that Fabianski has said he’s expecting to sign a two year extension soon and that both him and the club want it to happen.

Darren Randolph has a couple of years left on his deal already. Nathan Trott is highly thought of, but he probably need to get another season of league football under his belt. His only experience was at Wimbledon last year.

I’d be surprised to see us target a keeper anytime soon.

For me, the areas we need to strengthen are LB, CM and ST. We rely on four players to cover those four positions, and without them we have a serious drop off in quality. In all other positions we have what I would consider adequate cover and depth

I expect Martin will leave at the end of the season, which I assume means one of Trott or Anang will become 3rd choice 'keeper. I just wonder whether the club will want to cash in on the good relationship we seem to have with Slavia at the moment and go for Kolar before anyone else does. Fab is obviously a good keeper, but as Lukerz says, he's picking up injuries fairly regularly now and I'd be surprised if he didn't regress over the next two years.

Agree though that the priority has to be LB, CM and ST, and I'm confident that Moyes recognises that and can hopefully convince Sullivan to finance whatever deals we need.

yoyo

I must admit I forgot about Trott. Any experience he can get will be invaluable for his progression. It would be good to see a youngster at least pushing for the 3rd choice position in the next 12-18 months . My main concern is losing Rice and lack of options thereafter

alderz

Just to be clear, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be looking for a goalkeeper upgrade. I just don’t think the club be will right now.