The Transfer Window

alderz

The football season has finished, let silly season commence.

Hamstew

Where are the signings

Fortuneseeker

Aston Villa have already announced two signings haven’t they?

MrsGrey

Aaaarrrrghhh

Hamstew

And Liverpool have signed the Fulham lad. Pathetic from us so far

Pearces_Left_Foot

and we missed out on Mbappe GSBK out

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

GK: Fab, Randolph (Arreola?)
RB: Coufal, Johnson
CB: Zouma, Dawson, Diop (Ogbonna?)
LB: Cresswell, Masuaku
CM: Rice, Soucek, Lanzini
AM: Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma, Vlasic
CF: Antonio

Youth: Ashby (RB), Alese (CB), Coventry (CM) Oxo-Flex (AM), Perkins (CF)

So with the guys leaving on frees, we have 17 senior players excluding Ogbonna who's future is up in the air and Areola who reports suggest he may stay

Of the above 17, I'd say Diop and Masuaku (and Randolph) are the only ones we'd be actively looking to get rid of

And of that 17 I think we'd accept offers for Benrahma, Vlasic and possibly Lanzini...especially if we can get Lingard

We've got some great youth, but don't know if any are close given we've seen so little...but maybe with the europa conference league we may see a couple blooded

Obviously, broken record time....but priorities imo have to be CF, CM and LB......especially the first two

We need 3 players in those positions to compete for starting positions, not just depth

Also would like a new starting CB

Going to be a big summer, but I think if we can get 3 or 4 genuine quality additions in those positions I'd be chuffed

alderz

On the point of players leaving on a free, I've been through the squad list and from what I can find online, we have 24 players out of contract this summer:

First Team: Alphonse Areola, David Martin, Angelo Ogbonna, Ryan Fredericks, Mark Noble, Alex Kral, Andriy Yarmolenko

PL2: Nathan Trott, Brian Kinnear, Jayden Fevrier, Harrison Ashby, Will Greenidge, Ossama Ashley, Nathan Holland, Mesaque Dju, Lennon Peake, Amadou Diallo, Sonny Perkins

Academy: Jacob Knightbridge, Michael Forbes, Isaac Evans, Junior Robinson, Archie Woods, Remy Coddington

There's been a lot of rumours that Areola will be signed permanently, or at least have his loan extended. There was previously a lot of rumours that Ogbonna's contract was going to be extended - but this hasn't been announced at all, so we don't know for sure that that will happen.

The one's that are perhaps most surprising are Harrison Ashby and Sonny Perkins. Both of them have played in the first team this year, but there is nothing I can find online to suggest they will be here next year.

Hamstew

So what is everyone's view on Dennis of Watford. Seems like he is someone we have a good chance of signing going by murmurings at the game yesterday.

Pearces_Left_Foot

10 goals in a poor Watford team looks a better finisher than Antonio reckon would be a decent addition and a decent age aswell

whupathman

Kamara would have been a great signing for us, the Villa recruitment seems to have picked up a good free

Fortuneseeker

WHU, IF we were to sign four genuine quality players in those positions who were going to be as near to guaranteed starters then that would be a positive step. Moving forward we need a new GK, Cresswell replacement, as you said a CB to partner Zouma & a proper centre forward plus the squad number topping up.

Hamstew, Dennis - Ten goals in 33 games for Watford in a struggling team - Antonio 10 in 36. He does have a better conversion rate than Bowen. If his price is high then we may need to see who else is in Newman's BIG book of strikers.

alderz

According to whoscored, his strengths include his defensive contribution, and his style of play is based on dribbling, counter attacking, and tackling - which all seems like the sort of thing that fits in with us. His weaknesses include passing, holding on to the ball, crossing, and discipline - which doesn't sound great!

These are calculated based on statistics for the past two seasons. Obviously his season this season has been in a very poor side, though he did score 10 league goals and get 6 assists, which means he got 16 goal contributions for a side that only scored 34 in total.

The season prior this this one, he had really limited gametime at both Club Bruges and FC Koln. He played 13 times for Bruges in the first half of the season (scoring one goal, playing mostly on the wing, rarely completing a full game), before he seemed to be dropped around mid-December. After Christmas he moved to Koln, where he started playing as a central striker - he managed 9 Bundesliga appearances with 0 goals, and got 1 in 1 in the cup.

Looking at his career history, he scored 6 in 22 in the Ukrainian Premier League, 19 in 85 in Belgian Pro League, and 0 in 9 in the Bundesliga. Basically, he's had one season that stands out from the others.

I think it depends on whether or not we believe that this season was him settling and just starting to show his ability, or whether it was a flash in the pan. I like that he can play on the flanks, I like that he has good defensive contributions. From what I've seen of him (MOTD mostly), he looks quick and strong.

I would probably prefer Broja and Watkins to him, but he's definitely a good option.

Hamstew

Alderz if you can't be bothered to give me a decent detailed analysis of the player then just bother at all.

Pearces_Left_Foot

whupathman said:

Kamara would have been a great signing for us, the Villa recruitment seems to have picked up a good free

He turned down Athletico Madrid who could have given him champions league football reckon Villa must have offered massive wages

Pearces_Left_Foot

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/west-ham-transfer-rumours/west-ham-transfer-rumours-watford-dennis-update-whufc-latest-2/

Pearces_Left_Foot

So rumour mill has us down for Areola , Lingard , Denis and Aguerd from Rennes that would be some decent business IF they manage to pull it off .

alderz

I've never heard of Aguerd, but here's what I've just found out from a bit of googling.

Whoscored has him as having 'no significant weaknesses', has passing as his biggest strength (89% pass success this season), and other strengths include aerial duels and concentration. He also is noted for 'does not dive into tackles'.

He's played 40 games for Rennes this season and scored 4 goals - including 9 games and 2 goals in the Conference League. Transfermarkt has him down as a centre back or left back, but this season at least he's only played in the middle - Rennes have played with a back 4 in every game this season, so he's a traditional left sided centre back.

The last two seasons he's played really consistently, but the season before that he missed 4 months with an ankle injury.

He only extended his contract last summer, and currently has 4 years left.

Fortuneseeker

alderz, We were linked with Aguerd last summer.
P_L_F, Areola at £11 million a lot cheaper than Pope, plus Aguerd 👍. The other two can we do better with the big transfer fund we have?

MrsGrey

Hamstew said:

And Liverpool have signed the Fulham lad. Pathetic from us so far

According to the BBC they wanted him in January but couldn't get the deal over the line.

#notjustWestHam

alderz

Fortuneseeker said:

alderz, We were linked with Aguerd last summer.
P_L_F, Areola at £11 million a lot cheaper than Pope, plus Aguerd 👍. The other two can we do better with the big transfer fund we have?

Yeah I've just seen that in a Guardian article. Seems that we wanted him, they wouldn't sell him, then he extended his contract. I guess it's possible that that included a release clause if he stayed for a year or something like that. If not, I can't see that it would be much easier to sign him this year season than it was last.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

MrsGrey said:

Hamstew said:

And Liverpool have signed the Fulham lad. Pathetic from us so far

According to the BBC they wanted him in January but couldn't get the deal over the line.

#notjustWestHam

Yea they only got Dias who's fired them to a potential treble

alderz

Man, I remember when Fulham signed Jean Michael Seri and the world and it's wife thought it was a brilliant signing. Four years later and they've flushed £25m down the drain. Alfie Mawson gone of a free too, a few years after joining for £20m.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61555944

Fortuneseeker

We were strongly linked with Diaz then Tottenham got involved & that alerted Liverpool so we missed out, this is the level of signing I not only hope we can make but will actually do so. 🤞

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Some potential deals (and plenty of competition) for free transfers this summer

Lingard, Eriksen, Nketiah, Lacazette, Tarkowski and Longstaff from the prem alone

Then abroad you got players like Isco, Belotti, Perisic, Roberto, Denayer, Tolisso, Zagadou etc.

As I said, competition is going to be rife but lots of talent in there

OutcastLondoner

Roberto?

Lukerz

The transfer window or, as I like to call it, the ‘why didn’t we sign that player (even though they turn out to not be that good)’ window.

alderz

Lukerz said:

The transfer window or, as I like to call it, the ‘why didn’t we sign that player (even though they turn out to not be that good)’ window.

That’s not as catchy a name though

Fortuneseeker

Lukerz, Don't worry there will still be plenty of players who we should have signed who turn out to be more than useful.

PrestonHammer

Or the "Look what we could have won" window.

Bazshuayi

MrsGrey said:

Hamstew said:

And Liverpool have signed the Fulham lad. Pathetic from us so far

According to the BBC they wanted him in January but couldn't get the deal over the line.

#notjustWestHam

Both of us wanted him. He chose to sit and watch Liverpools first 11 rather than actually play. Apparently he is very highly rated and a bit of bitterness may be filtering through