Transfer Speculation

ironmike44

‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”
Henry V1 part 2 - nothing to do with the conversation - just my favourite quote from Shakespeare 🤓

ASLEFshrugged

Anfield Central (where everything appears to be written by Liverpool FC blogger Michael Mongie) says we've made an approach for Oxlade-Chamberlain

Maybe Moyes transfer policy is to sign every disgruntled England international he can find

Dele Alli next...(kidding)

alderz

Ox is a good player, but my gosh his injury record is abysmal. I hope we steer well clear.

yoyo

Is his position a place we need filling?

alderz

I see him as a central midfielder, so if that’s the logic then yes i think so

OldCastleSwift

Always liked Ox, but with his injury record I just don't think he's worth the risk (or the wages I expect he'll command). Plus he's not a priority position.

Ideally you'd have a squad whereby you'd have two teams of eleven in a preferred formation. Moyes seems to prefer 4-2-3-1, for which we currently have:

Fab/Randy

Coufal/Fredericks

Cresswell/Masuaku

Dawson/Balbuena

Ogbonna/Diop

Rice/Noble

Soucek/???

Bowen/Yarmolenko

Lingard/Lanzini

Fornals/Benrahma

Antonio/???

Based on this, and as we already know, we need a striker and a midfielder in the mould of Rice/Soucek as priority positions. With Lanzini, Anderson and Yarmolenko looking the most likely to be moved on, a winger and/or a No10 may also be needed.

Flexibility is also key to a successful squad, and with Coufal, Fredericks and Masuaku able to play as wing-backs, Cresswell a good option in a back three, and our front four being interchangeable, we already have that. What we don't have is a left-sided Coufal; someone that can play left back and left wing-back, so that would be my third signing priority.

So I don't think we need a lot of players; just the right players. And I don't think Ox fits that criteria.

MunichHammer

yoyo said:

Is his position a place we need filling?

I don't think so. I believe the treatment table has enough cover as it is.

Yeoldhammer

Do not sign Ox, literally Wilshire / Carroll etc....

ASLEFshrugged

Balbuena's contract ends in the summer, C&H thinks he'll leave on a free and Greek newspaper Sportime say AEK Athens are interested.

C&H also reckons that apart from signing Dawson Moyes isn't looking for another senior centre back but will give more time to Jamal Baptise and Ajibola Alese

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Think that Baptiste, for as talented as he looks, is just too young to have any real playing time....hes a proper kid

I like looking into youth, but Alese hasn't played much and isnt part of the the Cambridge first team picture and that's league 2

Think that the new guy Alves might be the most likely to fill the gap, he's 22 before the end of the year, has been on the bench since he joined and apparantly he's impressed Moyes (according to reports)

EXETERHAMMER

I think Chelsea or Liverpool would need a player like Rice more than Man Utd who have Mctominey, and more than Man City who probably don't need anyone. Not sure how much Chelsea or Liverpool would be willing to pay though.

OldCastleSwift

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Think that Baptiste, for as talented as he looks, is just too young to have any real playing time....hes a proper kid

I like looking into youth, but Alese hasn't played much and isnt part of the the Cambridge first team picture and that's league 2

Think that the new guy Alves might be the most likely to fill the gap, he's 22 before the end of the year, has been on the bench since he joined and apparantly he's impressed Moyes (according to reports)

Yeah, if Balbuena goes as is expected, I think Alves will take his place as 4th choice CB. Cresswell can play there in a three, so we could probably get away with not spending in that position for the summer window at least.

yoyo

West Ham boss David Moyes says the club will have to listen to offers for England international Declan Rice, 22, and Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Soucek, 26, this summer ( The Mirror )

Yeoldhammer

yoyo said:

West Ham boss David Moyes says the club will have to listen to offers for England international Declan Rice, 22, and Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Soucek, 26, this summer ( The Mirror )

Imagine if that was remotely true lol

IronHerb

What Moyes said is most likely true.

Cuz1

It did say also that the valuations would have to be met the quote was along the lines of all the money in Bank of England and Scotland for rice and bank of Czech for soucek, so think it was tongue in cheek but everyone has a price and if 200 mil for the pair came up think they’d be sold

IronHerb

My take was that Moyes was just saying we are expecting to get offers for Rice and Soucek, which I hope we do as it shows how good they are and that is being recognised elsewhere.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

It's from the Mirror, wouldn't give it any notice

If we get £100mil for Rice or Soucek etc. We'd have every right to accept it

Whitehorsehammer

Even if the club didn't get any serious formal offers over the summer for Rice & Soucek you can be as sure as night follows day that the press will report interest and offers from most clubs you have ever heard of a even some you haven't.

IronHerb

https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2021/april/06-april/craig-dawson-join-west-ham-united-permanent-basis

Dawson will sign permanent at end of season. 👏👏👏

jay_in_cpt

He has proved to be a bargain buy IMO. Well impressive performances considering how many had wrote him off before even kicking a ball for us...
Seems a great professional and wears his heart on the sleeve...
Excellent addition IMO.

Lukerz

Yep, two year deal at end of the season

yoyo

Well deserved

steve

Never wanted him ,but boy was i wrong Really glad to have him now ,Proved a lot of people wrong ,Good for him

OldCastleSwift

Not sure what Randolph's contract situation is, but he seems to be increasingly injury prone. He was due to play for the U23s tonight but has pulled out at the last minute, which suggests a warm-up injury.

Should we look to replace him in the summer?

ASLEFshrugged

I thought he was another Roger Johnson but I'm happy to eat a huge slice of humble pie

Hammerdublin

OldCastleSwift said:

Not sure what Randolph's contract situation is, but he seems to be increasingly injury prone. He was due to play for the U23s tonight but has pulled out at the last minute, which suggests a warm-up injury.

Should we look to replace him in the summer?

Isn't Trott good enough to replace him?

OldCastleSwift

Hammerdublin said:

OldCastleSwift said:

Not sure what Randolph's contract situation is, but he seems to be increasingly injury prone. He was due to play for the U23s tonight but has pulled out at the last minute, which suggests a warm-up injury.

Should we look to replace him in the summer?

Isn't Trott good enough to replace him?

Quite possibly. I'm all for promoting youth, but haven't seen enough of Trott to know whether he's ready.

Martin is out of contract in the summer and likely to leave, and I would expect one of Trott and Anang to go out on loan, so if there are question marks over Randolph's fitness then there may be a case to bring in another 'keeper.

That said, with money expected to be tight, I don't think we will. I just worry that we have Fabianksi at one end of the career spectrum and Trott and Anang at the other with nothing in between. If we lost Fab for any length of time, do we have any confidence that Trott can step up? Personally, I'd want him to have a season as a No1 in the Championship, like Dean Henderson did at Sheff Utd, to see how good he really is.

Ideally what I'd like is for us to bring in a 'keeper in his mid-20s with some good top-flight experience that could be a long-term option. I know it's an obvious link because he plays for Slavia Prague, but Ondrej Kolar is 26 and had played nearly 100 games for Slavia and has a few seasons of European experience behind him. He could be our No1 for the next ten years, and would allow Trott to have a season or two learning his trade at a good, competitive level. If when he comes back he is good enough, we have the luxury of two good GK options.

baracks_a_hammer

For Trott to have a season or two as a number one in the championship, a championship team has actually got to want him. It could well be that he just isn’t deemed good enough. The champ is a tough league.

OldCastleSwift

baracks_a_hammer said:

For Trott to have a season or two as a number one in the championship, a championship team has actually got to want him. It could well be that he just isn’t deemed good enough. The champ is a tough league.

Absolutely. But if he's not deemed good enough for the Championship then logic dictates that he's not good enough for the PL. Which supports the argument that we could do with another 'keeper if Randolph is a permanent injury risk.

Generally speaking our U23s don't get very good loans. Over the years they've gone to League 1 and League 2 teams, which isn't a great gauge for whether they're good enough for our first team. As far as I can remember, Diangana has been the only successful Championship loan for a good few years (i.e. he performed well and we got a positive benefit from it), so I'm not holding out much hope for Trott in that respect.