The January Transfer Window

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Sun....

Only way we'd buy a striker for that much is if Haller goes

BubblesNeverDies

Hmm, another expensive French striker.

ianbishoplegend

Hope he’s really quick

ASLEFshrugged

On the plus side Dembele has Premier League experience. He played 7 minutes against us in November 2013 and 81 minutes against Everton in March 2014 for Fulham.

I'll get me coat...

claretandbluesky

A bit of talk on Twitter regard Lanzini heading off to River Plate. As I don't speak Spanish I couldn't tell where the substance of the report was coming from!

ScotHammer

“Claims are Moyes is a big fan of the former Celtic striker Dembele, who is frustrated with being left on the bench recently in France.”

Given our current form, this could a problem we don’t need

ASLEFshrugged

It might be something to do with Dembele not scoring in 10 appearances with 5 starts and a total of 482 minutes (Olympique Lyonnais currently 5th). On Sunday he got his first start since September, at half time St Etienne were winning 1-0, Dembele was taken off after an hour and his replacement scored twice.

yoyo

He looked good at Celtic which probably tells you more about Scottish football than it does his ability

OutcastLondoner

He played a lot of games in the Championship when he was still very young, did well at Celtic and his record at Lyon is around a goal every two games. He would be a bit more familiar with English football than most signings we get from abroad and is still only 24. He seems to be the type of athletic, mobile striker that Moyes has preferred with us so, if it's Moyes who wants him, he seems like a decent target to back him on.

ScotHammer

yoyo said:

He looked good at Celtic which probably tells you more about Scottish football than it does his ability

Agree - even Ajeti has scored 5 in 9 league games, although he was not really given much of a chance with us IMO.

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ScotHammer said:

yoyo said:

He looked good at Celtic which probably tells you more about Scottish football than it does his ability

Agree - even Ajeti has scored 5 in 9 league games, although he was not really given much of a chance with us IMO.

No goals in 3 appearnaces in the Europa league probably a fairer reflection given how poor the scottish league is

ASLEFshrugged

Dembele scored 7 goals in 26 Champions League appearances for Celtic and Olympique, 4 of those against Man City (2 in last season's QF).

From 6 minutes



wonder if OL would be interested in Haller part ex?

Cuz1

Dembele is not imo the answer to our problem when Antonio’s not fit

Fortuneseeker

ASLEF, so how would the part ex work with OL, they give us Dembele and lots of money & they get Haller?

ASLEFshrugged

I wish, more likely we'd need to give OL £5m to take Haller off our hands!

While we're on the subject of strikers has anybody taken a glance at the Championship?

Top scorer is Blackburn's 23yo Adam Armstrong with 11 in 10, he scored 16 in 46 last season, shifting between winger and centre forward but was still the club top scorer. Obviously playing up front suits him.

2nd top scorer is Brentford's 24yo Ivan Toney with 10 in 11, last season he was League 1 top scorer with 24 in 32 for Peterborough. Maybe we should have a serious look at Brentford's scouting team, they seem pretty good talent spotters.

Both were sold by Newcastle in summer 2018. They may live to regret that...

OutcastLondoner

Brentford have a strong system set up for scouting, so it would take more than taking some staff. They did let one of their recruiters go recently. He might not be very good but maybe he still has a copy of their excel sheets.

MrsGrey

Data is everything!!

Fortuneseeker

I’m sure we were linked with Armstrong in the last window.

alderz

Brentford’s scouting system identifies players who suit their system. Ivan Toney is pretty similar in attributes and style to Ollie Watkins, which is why he is fitting in well to the way they play. When we signed Haller it was because he was good at stuff, rather than being because he fit what we needed.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

Brentford’s scouting system identifies players who suit their system. Ivan Toney is pretty similar in attributes and style to Ollie Watkins, which is why he is fitting in well to the way they play. When we signed Haller it was because he was good at stuff, rather than being because he fit what we needed.

And this is the fundamental problem with our recruitment strategy. If you can call it that.

It hasn't helped that we've been through a few short-term managers over the recent years, meaning we haven't had a settled squad or system for a long time. What we need is for Moyes to be given at least three years to build a squad that fits his style, and for his targets, rather than agent picks, to be bought in.

Personally, I don't think any of this changes until G&S go, so it may be a while before we have a cohesive strategy on who and how we buy.

ASLEFshrugged

OldCastleSwift said:

Personally, I don't think any of this changes until G&S go, so it may be a while before we have a cohesive strategy on who and how we buy.

The addition of Bowen, Soucek and Coufal would suggest that Moyes has already made changes to our recruitment strategy

MrsGrey said:

Data is everything!!

I prefer Worf

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https://www.claretandhugh.info/hammers-sign-up-a-future-mega-player/

Baptiste, who is widely considered the best of the young prospects at the club, has signed d anew 2.5 year deal

Think there is a rule about how many years you can give yo youth players, but this is good news...especially losing Ngakia to Watford and Baker-Boaitey to Porto

This kid looked class for a 17 year old in pre season, hope he continues his development

alderz

Was Baptiste the one that was linked with Bayern?

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alderz said:

Was Baptiste the one that was linked with Bayern?

That was Baker-Boaitey, he left for Porto instead after being linked with Bayern for a few months

alderz

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

alderz said:

Was Baptiste the one that was linked with Bayern?

That was Baker-Boaitey, he left for Porto instead after being linked with Bayern for a few months

Ah ok. That’s a shame

Cuz1

ASLEFshrugged said:

OldCastleSwift said:

Personally, I don't think any of this changes until G&S go, so it may be a while before we have a cohesive strategy on who and how we buy.

The addition of Bowen, Soucek and Coufal would suggest that Moyes has already made changes to our recruitment strategy

MrsGrey said:

Data is everything!!

I prefer Worf

That’s if they were hand picked by moyes just saying 😂😂

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Cuz1 said:

ASLEFshrugged said:

OldCastleSwift said:

Personally, I don't think any of this changes until G&S go, so it may be a while before we have a cohesive strategy on who and how we buy.

The addition of Bowen, Soucek and Coufal would suggest that Moyes has already made changes to our recruitment strategy

MrsGrey said:

Data is everything!!

I prefer Worf

That’s if they were hand picked by moyes just saying 😂😂

And if they weren't...sullivan gets the credit right?

Cuz1

Not on your life hence the 😂😂 at the end

Ravel49

Chelsea will make another bid for West Ham and England midfielder Declan Rice in January. The Blues will sell two senior players to fund a move for the 28-year-old. (Football Insider)

Expat_Hammer

Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

Chelsea will make another bid for West Ham and England midfielder Declan Rice in January. The Blues will sell two senior players to fund a move for the 28-year-old. (Football Insider)

When was the first bid?