Transfer Speculation (1st June onwards)

Lukerz

Fortuneseeker said:

OCS, The sooner the Head of Recruitment arrives the better. Rumour has it he is on gardening leave after leaving Burnley!

https://www.hammers.news/club-news/man-responsible-sergio-aguero-move-a-leading-contender-for-west-ham-head-of-recruitment-role-according-to-ex/

Good, maybe another bid for Tarkowski is not out of the question.

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

Surely, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a player we should be interested in? It is just so obvious:

Young (23)
London-based already
Wants to be a CM - but can play RB/LB/RWB/LWB
Experience of European football
Arsenal willing to sell - maybe a loan is possible, if not a sale

That is the sort of player we should be bidding for & I would be delighted with him. Not sure we're interested, though.

Absolutely agree. His versatility could be key if money is as tight as being reported.

Hopefully Moyes is keen (and Sullivan willing)

PrestonHammer

I'm assuming our new head of recruitment has been looking at players we can recruit almost straight away, otherwise it could be no signings until the middle of August.

Fortuneseeker

Preston, You're being a tad optimistic there. The window doesn't close until the 2nd of September.

thornburyiron

It closes 11pm on 31st August

IronHerb

Is the 'Head of Recruitment' the one who makes the decisions on who we buy/sell/loan or do they just finalise the deal on the Manager/ DoF say so?

Fortuneseeker

thorn, Thanks we need to get a move on then!

Fortuneseeker

Andre Silva to RB Leipzig for £19 million?

MrsGrey

It's a signing of a player for another club. Not sure why you are posting a report of that in the transfer speculation thread?

Fortuneseeker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Silva_(footballer,_born_1995)

Decent stats & a decent age. We all know what happened to last person we got from Eintracht Frankfurt and some even questioned his ability as they didn't really rate the Bundesliga.

MrsGrey

Yeah, I googled. ( Sorry, I edited my first post before I saw your reply.)

Is he someone you had flagged up earlier as a player you wanted us to sign?

Sorry again, now I see you edited your post after mine o:-)
But I'm not sure what your post is for? Am I missing your point?

Fortuneseeker

Mrs G, We were linked with him in the media but that could have been just to fill some column inches. At that price he should have been someone on our radar IMHO. That's just me believing we should be trying to buy a few "top players" which I am regularly shot down for saying as I am told we can't compete with the so called big six but that hasn't stopped Leicester so far this window has it?

MrsGrey

Is that the Leicester City that has signed 2 players? Who played in Europe last season and won the FA cup? Who have been in the PL for the past 7 seasons, and of those 7 have finished top half 5 times including winning it once. That Leicester?

Fortuneseeker

Mrs G, Yes the same one. Apologies but I have no wish to fallout with anyone as everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I either simply can't or won't understand why we aren't able to compete with some of our rivals to buy a couple of top end players, especially if we are talking about £20-25 million?

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Fortuneseeker said:

Mrs G, Yes the same one. Apologies but I have no wish to fallout with anyone as everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I either simply can't or won't understand why we aren't able to compete with some of our rivals to buy a couple of top end players, especially if we are talking about £20-25 million?

You know that players can sign for other clubs right, not just the UK?

The club likely has a list of targets, if we weren't interested or haven't scouted Andre Silva then we aren't going to match RB bid are we?

Lukerz

I have found it a bit odd the amount of negative feeling I have seen on Twitter directed at the club, GSB etc. I am not their biggest fan, but I have found it OTT. Distress from everything including lack of signings, Rice leaving & even the kit not being released yet.

Moyes does not make many signings. His time here so far has seen him sign a very small amount of players - Randolph, Dawson, Coufal, Souček, Bowen, Lingard, Benrahma. That is around a reported £70m spend on 7 players, so he averages £10m spend on a signing. In fact, historically, Moyes does not make many signings or spend much money, including his time at Everton, Man Utd, Sociedad & Sunderland. Not to mention, it was Moyes who took the plunge with Declan Rice & putting him into the first 11, converted Arnie to a ruthless striker from a lethargic winger & made Antonio one of the form strikers in the PL from a bit of a sporadic, utility player.

After the season we have just had, when there was doubt over the signings of Dawson & Lingard, not signing a striker in January etc, I would have thought Moyes deserves some faith. The club will not make many signings this summer, unless we cash in on Rice. So we are going to require Moyes to continue to build, & make better, the squad he has, whilst adding maybe 2/3 signings on relative cheap deals/loans.

We have just finished 6th & have at least 6 Europa League games to look forward to. We will get the players we need, but it won't be many & it won't break the bank.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Lukerz 👍🏻

There’s negativity everywhere I look. We’ve just had a great season, and have a solid squad and a manager getting the best out of them.

Should be a happier time, considering the last forty years the club have had, but seems it’s still not good enough.

A big part of supporting the club, for me, is the idea of enjoying and celebrating with other fans. But so much of the fanbase feels so constantly negative, and it makes me wonder what the point is.

Lukerz

It's funny how you can have an underwhelming season, splash a load of money the following summer & feel more positive over a new season, over one where you have just finished 3 points off the top four.

Lukerz

To start with, we really do need to get Anderson, Reid, Yarmolenko off the wage bill in some capacity. I think we can assume they are all earning in excess of £70k a week. I do hate the Reid situation but it is what it is. He has been a legend here & will end up leaving out the back door.

A lot of fans almost discount these players, though. We have a squad of '18' players when you discount 'player x, y & z'. The reality is those players do count. They count in the finances, the squad dynamic & squad places. We need to move them on, especially if we accept money will be tight this summer, for all clubs.

If we move those players on, even for nominal fees, we save over £10m a year in wages. That's a possible transfer fee or money to go towards Rice's new deal & a Lingard signing.

BubblesNeverDies

Perhaps people should just back off from so much SM - seems to me that it's overwhelming achievement is to spread negativity.

Lukerz

Being reported Anderson is going for 3m euros. It's not great, but I assume we still owe them some money from 2018 which they will write off. Just shows why Moyes wants a revamped recruitment team. The error here is not selling him for peanuts, but the original purchase & fee paid.

MrsGrey

Lukerz, referring back to your 10m savings... I'm just thinking about that. If we get rid of those players, and spend the 10 on a new player, we are still 2 players short ( I know 2 of them as loaned out last season haven't really been ' our' players) and have the new player's wages on the wage bill in addition . But with an extra competition next season is there not an argument for keeping ??the 2 on lowest wages/the 2 we won't get much money for and using them in the europa comp. Surely Reid could do a job there?

Would the 10m wages saving possibly be a false economy?

Lukerz

Possibly, MrsG.

It was more to emphasise how much those salaries contribute to the finances, detrimentally if they are not playing. I don't necessarily think we spend that years savings on a new player but it could go towards the finances involved in 2 or 3 loan deals or improved contracts for the likes of Coufal/Rice/Souček given that two of those have recently turned down deals.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Not west ham related but on the topic of wages....the mess going on over in Barcelona is ridiculous

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportbible.com/football/news-reactions-barcelona-cant-register-signings-as-they-must-cut-the-wage-bill-20210706.amp.html

Can't register their new players unless they lower their wage bill, apprantly they're over the La Liga limit by 40%!!!

IronHerb

I think thats why Barca, Real and Juve have still to withdraw from the ESL. They're skint.

alderz

IronHerb said:

I think thats why Barca, Real and Juve have still to withdraw from the ESL. They're skint.

Yeah, isn't it an odd coincidence that these clubs that really wanted the ESL to save football also happy to be in financial ruin due to incredible mismanagement over the past decade or more.

alderz

Barcelona salaries are absolutely disgusting

https://salarysport.com/football/la-liga/barcelona/

Yeoldhammer

MrsGrey said:

Lukerz, referring back to your 10m savings... I'm just thinking about that. If we get rid of those players, and spend the 10 on a new player, we are still 2 players short ( I know 2 of them as loaned out last season haven't really been ' our' players) and have the new player's wages on the wage bill in addition . But with an extra competition next season is there not an argument for keeping ??the 2 on lowest wages/the 2 we won't get much money for and using them in the europa comp. Surely Reid could do a job there?

Would the 10m wages saving possibly be a false economy?

if someone is willing to pay a fee for Reid and someone pushes 8 - 10m for Yarmalenko you snap their hands off. Would rather develop a youngster than use Reid if we are looking for "doing a job" and this is the best last opportunity you shift Yarmalenko for a fee off the back of a half decent tournament for Ukraine and him personally. Better off taking the 8 -10m and hoping Moyes recruitment and scouting team can bring someone in or if need be Loan.

Yeoldhammer

alderz said:

Barcelona salaries are absolutely disgusting

https://salarysport.com/football/la-liga/barcelona/

I hope they go bust, about time the market implodes. Barcelona and Real Madrid falling like a Rock will actually save La Liga and turn it around into a much better prospect for the future.

alderz

Yeoldhammer said:

alderz said:

Barcelona salaries are absolutely disgusting

https://salarysport.com/football/la-liga/barcelona/

I hope they go bust, about time the market implodes. Barcelona and Real Madrid falling like a Rock will actually save La Liga and turn it around into a much better prospect for the future.

It would teach a serious lesson to the people financing football.

Nobody cared when Wimbledon were ripped up and shoved elsewhere. Nobody cared when Bury went bust. Nobody cared when Portsmouth, Bolton, Luton, Blackpool tumbled down the leagues because of financial mismanagement. Nobody cared when Southampton ruined local businesses to get out of administration.

It's about time something massive happened to change things.