Transfer Window: The Final Two Weeks

Slacker

All very exciting innit?
I’m not gonna spoil the positive vibe on here ( it doesn’t happen very often) but hopefully these new lads settle in quickly because they’re gonna need to.⚒
Great stuff by the board and whoever else.🎉

Lukerz

Dawson apparently lives in Manchester (well his family do anyway) & he commutes to West Ham (not sure whether daily or weekly). Wants to be closer to home.

Ravel49

Fab Rom:

Sevilla are in advanced talks to sign Adnan Januzaj on free transfer. Negotiations ongoing, there's still work to do on player side but Sevilla hope for an agreement to be reached today. 🚨⚪️🔴 #Sevilla

OldCastleSwift

Ravel49 said:

Fab Rom:

Sevilla are in advanced talks to sign Adnan Januzaj on free transfer. Negotiations ongoing, there's still work to do on player side but Sevilla hope for an agreement to be reached today. 🚨⚪️🔴 #Sevilla

Bit of an upgrade; he was going to Serie B yesterday.

Still think he'd have been a good option for us on a free. Particularly with Bowen so out of form.

alderz

I think Antonio/Cornet will be the Bowen rotation option, and we might end up with Broja on loan. The fact Chelsea would rather play no strikers than him, and now want to sign Auba means he clearly is surplus.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

I think Antonio/Cornet will be the Bowen rotation option, and we might end up with Broja on loan. The fact Chelsea would rather play no strikers than him, and now want to sign Auba means he clearly is surplus.

Yeah, I'd be happy with that. I think Broja as played off the left at times so we could have quite a few options.

OldCastleSwift

It's quite nice going into the last few days of a transfer window without any actual requirements; a few nice-to-haves, sure, but I don't think there's anything we urgently need.

If Moyes wants to persist with 3-5-2, then I think Joakim Maehle would be a perfect signing. Emerson and Coufal are probably our starters in the wingback positions, but I don't think Cresswell or Johnson suit the role particularly well; Maehle has the ability (and history) to play on either side so could be a very astute signing.

Depending on how Moyes views Downes's role this season, we may want another central midfielder. The links to Fofana and Gallagher rumble on so that could be another position we strengthen.

And Broja; I think that would be a good signing for us. If all goes well we could play 60+ games so having three strikers wouldn't be a problem, IMO.

Bazshuayi

With deadline day fast approaching, do we think those agents will be offering us some more tasty players? Or will we sit by the phone waiting to see what Chelsea players we can pick up? I think we will bring at least one more player in, maybe two. No big ideas beyond the Vanaken, Broja, Gallagher, RLC etc recent pushing/speculation. But more than 8?

alderz

Personally, the only signings I think could happen are Broja and/or Gallagher. I would be surprised to see Vanaken now that we've got Paqueta. Realistically, the only positions where we don't have good depth are CM and ST, though I think we have the ability to cover the ST position in a pinch without a massive drop off.

If I could cherry pick one extra signing it would be Gallagher. I think Chelsea won't want to lose him permanently, so I don't see the Palace move happening unless he pushes for it. I think he would be a genuinely top class option in our midfield, and would get plenty of game time alongside Rice and Soucek.

Bazshuayi

I think he'd immediately take Souceks place and is a comfortably higher level player

alderz

I'm on the fence. I think he will be a better player, but for now I think there isn't much in it.

Ravel49

Fab Rom

West Ham are loaning out winger Armstrong Okoflex to Swansea City, full agreement reached as medical has just been completed. ⚪️🤝

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

Personally, the only signings I think could happen are Broja and/or Gallagher. I would be surprised to see Vanaken now that we've got Paqueta. Realistically, the only positions where we don't have good depth are CM and ST, though I think we have the ability to cover the ST position in a pinch without a massive drop off.

If I could cherry pick one extra signing it would be Gallagher. I think Chelsea won't want to lose him permanently, so I don't see the Palace move happening unless he pushes for it. I think he would be a genuinely top class option in our midfield, and would get plenty of game time alongside Rice and Soucek.

If it's Broja and Gallagher, that would mean another £25m+ transfer, which seems unlikely. Although I never thought I'd see a £175m West Ham window so who knows anymore.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

According to Ex we may see some good prospects leave on a permanent deal soon

Ashby is into his last year and seems like he wants a first team contract which we, understandably, aren't willing to give right now even though we like him....we'd prefer him to extend and go on loan

Also Jamal Baptiste, apparantly there is interest in him and he hasn't quite developed recently so again we may be willing to sell him rather than he runs down his contract like Perkins did

Lukerz

Fabianski
Coufal - Zouma - Kehrer - Cresswell
Rice - Soucek - Fornals
Bowen - Antonio - Benrahma

Areola, Ogbonna, Johnson, Emerson, Downes, Lanzini, Paqueta, Cornet, Scamacca

No Dawson in that squad & Aguerd to come back into it.

Hamstew

Would be a shame re Ashby I think he looks decent. Was weirdly talking about him to a colleague as he knows him through a friend. Apparently he has no interest in football and just sees it a job.

OldCastleSwift

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

Ashby is into his last year and seems like he wants a first team contract which we, understandably, aren't willing to give right now even though we like him....we'd prefer him to extend and go on loan

Kind of torn on this one. On the one hand we have seen Diangana, Ngakia and Quinos, who were all U23 'wunderkinds', leave and not make the grade at the top level, so maybe we have to judge the club's judgement on Ashby's future. But on the other I've really liked what I've seen of him and he's been in and around the first team so maybe we should give him a new contract more in line with the first team. I mean, with Johnson's injury he could be needed for the next few weeks.

Obviously depends on what he's asking for, but at some point we may have to give these kids something more than an U23 contract, especially if they're involved in the first team picture. We can't always wait until they've made 20+ starts because that's not likely a) in a team targeting top six and b) under Moyes.

ASLEFshrugged

Givemesport claiming there might be a part ex deal with Gallagher going to Palace and Zaha going to Chelsea

buffybegood

For me it's difficult to say where we might still need players as I'm not sure how we're going to be playing and in particular how Moyes will utilise Paqueta.

We started yesterday with kinda a 3-4-1-2, although reverted more to our usual 4-2-3-1 after half time. I'm not sure we've, atm, got the wing-backs to make 3 at the back work particularly well, but it's early days just yet. Is Paqueta going to be the "1" in this formation, and the middle of the "3" if we revert to 4 at the back? Or, especially if we play 3 at the back, will Moyes decide that he can best be utilised as a CM alongside Rice or Soucek given that we'll be playing 3 CBs in behind? Or will we play more of a 4-3-3 with either Rice or Soucek holding while 2 others (the other one of Rice and Soucek together with Paqueta, or maybe Paqueta and say Fornals) have more freedom?

I guess what I'm getting at is that if Moyes sees Paqueta in a no.10/ACM type role with two holding players in behind, will we still be relying on Rice and Soucek to fill those two positions every game again this season? Downes may come good, but Moyes has said a couple of times that he doesn't feel he's ready yet (except for much easier games like Viborg); it feels as though he's the Kral rather than the Noble replacement (as in 4th choice CM rather than 3rd), and I see Coventry as below Downes in the pecking order. If we play 4 at the back, maybe Kehrer is that holding DCM once Aguerd is fit?

So although we've had a window far better than I expected, there's still a slight niggle that we might not have brought in a rangey CM to genuinely rotate with Rice and Soucek when form, injuries or required rest dictate, but given that the additions we have made mean I'm no longer sure quite how we're going to set up this season, it's nowhere near the concern that it would otherwise have been.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a CM come in though, possibly on loan as we've yet to use any so far and it's possible both PSG and Chelsea will have some players they want to offload.

IronHerb

I'm just trying to work out how many H&S rules were broken by putting Paqueta on the stadium roof. 🤔

buffybegood

One thing I will say is that anyone we sign in the last 3 days of this window will be a bonus, whereas it feels as though the last goodness knows how many windows have had me desperate to get extra players in during the last few days of them.

ASLEFshrugged

buffybegood said:

For me it's difficult to say where we might still need players as I'm not sure how we're going to be playing and in particular how Moyes will utilise Paqueta.

Moyes dropped a hint at the press conference

"Paquetá will be a different player to Jesse Lingard who played No10 for us, and Saïd Benrahma offers something else too"

Ravel49

Wolves interested in Dawson
Wolves and one other Premier League club have made an offer to West Ham for defender Craig Dawson.
It is thought Dawson wants a return to the Midlands to be closer to his family.

OldCastleSwift

Swiss journalist Andreas Boni is reporting that we've bid for Gladbach CB Nico Elvedi.

25-year-old Swiss international player.

Potential Dawson replacement?

IronHerb

Bednarak is another mentioned as a possible Dawson replacement according to The Sunday Mirror (via Hammers News) hijacking him from Villa.

Lukerz

But Moyes could find himself in need of another central defender before Thursday's deadline amid rumours Craig Dawson wants a move back to the midlands, with Aston Villa and Wolves being mentioned.
On whether he would let Dawson leave, Moyes said: "Ideally we wouldn't, but it's probably a much more complicated situation."

Sky Sports Transfer Centre

IronHerb

If he is going I hope he gets the last 10 minutes tomorrow where he can complete his fine work at West Ham by putting Richarlison into the stand with his final flourish.

OldCastleSwift

Wan-Bissaka may become available if Man Utd can bring in Sergino Dest, according to Sky.

We were linked last week, and may be in the market for a RB if Ashby goes.

One to keep an eye on, maybe.

BubblesNeverDies

IronHerb said:

If he is going I hope he gets the last 10 minutes tomorrow where he can complete his fine work at West Ham by putting Richarlison into the stand with his final flourish.

Looking at the pitch layout he needs to work Richarlison into a corner to have any chance of that.

IronHerb

They have moved the West Stand seats closer this season. 😁