The "I know its only February and Mrs Grey is going to scream "Noooooo" but..." transfer thread

OldCastleSwift

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

yoyo said:

West Ham will land long-term target Nikola Milenkovic, 24, with reports that the Fiorentina and Serbia defender has made a 'gentleman's agreement' with the Hammers. (TeamTalk)

Would be a great signing but we've been here before with this guy and it ended in nothing even when it looked like it was in the bag

Not gonna get too excited about a "gentleman agreement" from a TalkSport source

Him and Zouma would be an unbelievable pairing....OK maybe I'm a little excited

I'm sure I read that the gentleman's agreement was for Fiorentina to let him leave in the summer, rather than an agreement between the player and West Ham.

But I'm with you. We've been linked for the past two summers and to be honest I'm already bored of the new rumours.

Fortuneseeker

OCS, I agree all the new transfer rumours always seem to be we are one of a few clubs interested in signing a particular player but they would prefer a move to Manchester City, Arsenal or Tottenham etc or a Champions League club in Europe so we know how that normal ends up.

OldCastleSwift

I feel I may finally be where most of you have been for a long time in relation to transfer rumours. There's just so much noise and clickbait nonsense that it's pointless engaging with any of it, particularly this far away from our transfer window (the last week of August).

I think January has finally killed my transfer spirit.

Slacker

OldCastleSwift said:

I feel I may finally be where most of you have been for a long time in relation to transfer rumours. There's just so much noise and clickbait nonsense that it's pointless engaging with any of it, particularly this far away from our transfer window (the last week of August).

I think January has finally killed my transfer spirit.

Come on in you’re welcome, take a seat.

PrestonHammer

I wonder what number Milenkovic will wear? 🤔

OldCastleSwift

PrestonHammer said:

I wonder what number Milenkovic will wear? 🤔

ASLEFshrugged

TuttoMercato reckon that we have offered Dejan Lovren a 2-year deal although he might go back to Dinamo Zagreb

The Sun says we're looking to do loan deals with Shakhtar Donetsk for strikers David Neres and Lassina Traore although they also have offers from Lyon, Marseille, Real Sociedad and Corinthians

Fortuneseeker

ASLEF, So based on what happened to Burnley they will be going to one of the other four sides they mentioned.

ASLEFshrugged

The Sun reckons Everton will sell Calvert-Lewin along with one or two other big earners at the end of the season as Lampard needs funds to rebuild the squad and needs to reduce the payroll. When we enquired about DCL in January Everton wanted £60m but they will settle for less in the summer. Arsenal also interested

Maybe we should put a cheeky bid for Pickford

Teamtalk have also linked us with Lacazette who will be out of contract at the end of the season. He wants a long term contract which Arsenal are reluctant to give him as he'll be 31 in May. Lyon, Milan, Inter and Villa also mentioned

steve

Dont want all 3 of them .But would really be upset if we got Pickford cant stand the guy

alderz

Calvert-Lewin would be a brilliant signing, and I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want him at West Ham.

BubblesNeverDies

alderz said:

Calvert-Lewin would be a brilliant signing, and I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want him at West Ham.

Silly haircut?

ASLEFshrugged

BubblesNeverDies said:

Silly haircut?

After two and a half seasons of David James we can cope with silly haircuts

EXETERHAMMER

Would like Calvert-Lewin, but have concerns over his recent injury.

OldCastleSwift

EXETERHAMMER said:

Would like Calvert-Lewin, but have concerns over his recent injury.

I don't think his recent history is that bad, to be honest.



A fractured toe is an unlucky injury and not a long-term concern.

The muscle injuries last season are a bit more worrying, but again, are probably run of the mill for most footballers.

Missing 34 games in 5 years, with almost half of those to a bone fracture, doesn't scream injury prone to me.

Bazshuayi

If his injury history was a lot worse, I feel he would've already signed a super secret pre contract allied to a gentlemans agreement (which meant he could leave for free after spending 8 months injured after his tragic debut injury) with us already...

Yeoldhammer

isnt he supposed to be going Arsenal

Fortuneseeker

Yeold, Yes and so are about four other strikers! 😉

PrestonHammer

Yes, the usual let's throw loads of mud at the wall and see how much sticks approach.

ASLEFshrugged

C&H reckon that Lingard will choose West Ham over Newcastle because he believes he'll get more playing time under Moyes than under Howe

C&H also suggesting we could do a part-ex deal with Forest for CD Joe Worrall with LB Emmanuel Longelo going the other way

Fortuneseeker

I thought Longelo was believed to be one of our best young players, IF so why are we choosing to let him go?

alderz

Being ‘one of the best’ young players doesn’t necessarily mean good enough for the first team. Moyes has preferred several non left backs out of position over Longelo, so he clearly doesn’t rate him that highly

PrestonHammer

I thought he is injured?

OldCastleSwift

I think he has been injured, but was back for the last U23 game I believe.

I thought he did well in the EL game against Zagrab, but I agree with alderz that it doesn't look like Moyes rates him. He's played Johnson, Fredericks, Masuaku and even Fornals at LB/LWB ahead of him.

I think we'll be in the market for a left-sided player in the summer, so his options will be New LB, Cresswell and Johnson next season.

OldCastleSwift

Or, maybe, Longelo will be offered to Forest for a season-long loan to sweeten the Worrall deal.

At 21 he probably needs a season in the Championship to prove what level he's at.

By all accounts he was due to go on loan in January, but picked up the injury. Maybe Moyes wants to give him that before he makes a final decision.

Fortuneseeker

OCS, That would make sense unless David Moyes reckons he has seen enough to decide he doesn't want to keep him. It's a shame as it appears not many of our highly rated young players are able to step up & progress into the first team properly.

MrsGrey

Not many of our any club's highly rated young players are able to step up & progress into the first team properly.

Fixed it for you :-)

alderz

Over the past, what, 20 years (maybe slightly fewer) we’ve only had Noble, Tomkins, Collison, Rice and Johnson who have properly broken through and become a mainstay. Obviously there’s also the likes of Stanislas who broke in but wasn’t really viewed as long term good enough.

Let’s say there are around 15 players in each age group, and maybe 6 become scholars each year. For the past 15 years years that’s 225 age group players. 90 scholars. And 5 have made it at the club. 2%, or 5.6% of scholars.

It’s really unusual for any player to make it, and the fact we’ve had Rice and Johnson come through simultaneously is a massive anomaly.

Slacker

I think a lot of it is down to the pressure on managers to get results. Life expectancy as a manager is what two years or so? Therefore, unfortunately,most will buy an experienced player for a particular position than trust a youngster coming through.
A sad indictment of the modern game really.

Fortuneseeker

Arsene Wenger said much the same when asked about playing young players whilst he was at Arsenal.