Summer Transfer Window 2023

buffybegood

OldCastleSwift said:

If it's true that we're looking at pure DMs like Palhinha and Alvarez, then I'm assuming Moyes is looking at playing 4-1-4-1 rather than 4-3-3.

For arguments sake:

GK
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Palhinha
Bowen Paqueta Scott Barnes
Scamacca

Personally I don't see him dropping Soucek, but I think, as with Paqueta, he'll want some graft from whoever plays centrally, and I don't think Benrahma ticks that box for him.

I think it's basically what's happened over the last season, but without the players to really play it. A couple of seasons ago we were a 4-2-3-1, but things got a little confused by both the switch in Rice's role and then trying to work out how best to utilise Paqueta, and that's kinda why we ended up nominally being a 4-3-3.

If we're being honest though, we never play with 3 forwards, the two wide forwards are definitely expected to put a serious defensive shift in, and so, as OCS suggests, given we're being linked with real single pivot DMs like Palhinha, it does look like it will be a 4-1-4-1. I personally like the idea of Scott in alongside Paqueta, but, even if we get him, I'm not sure how often Moyes would play the two of them together, we can but hope; I would expect another CM to come in anyway even if we get Scott tbh (please not JWP).

alderz

JWP would be a great signing for us, IMO.

GK: Fabianski / Areola

RB: Coufal / Johnson
CB: Zouma / Kehrer
CB: Aguerd / Ogbonna
LB: Cresswell / Emerson

DM: Palhinha / Soucek
CM: Ward-Prowse / Scott
AM: Paqueta / Fornals

RW: Bowen / Cornet
LW: Barnes / Benhrama

ST: Scamacca / Antonio

I think this looks like a good squad, aside from the obvious issue of depth in defence.

ASLEFshrugged

The recent Soucek rumours appear to have started on Six Foot Two, (6foot2.co.uk) a West Ham website I've never heard of before and were then spread by Sean Whetstone on C&H

Six Foot Two is some bloke called Nigel Kahn, again never heard of him so just how reliable his info is I couldn't say

Last Thursday Ex said

"He hasnt got a new contract offer yet which has alerted other clubs, the club are not looking to sell but should an offer come in they would consider it and Soucek may wish to talk to other clubs.

“Whilst no club has put an enquiry in the likes of Napoli apparently thinking about a move.”

The Napoli rumour appeared last Thursday morning on Italian journo Luca Cerchione's Twitter

Personally I don't see Moyes selling both our starting CMs

MrsGrey

Nigel Khan rings a bell. I think he might have been a member once, long ago.

Or maybe not 🤔

alderz

Just had a look at Premier League transfer business so far, because I've seen some murmurings about us being slow in the market. If you ignore loan signings from last season becoming permanent (i.e. Kulusevski to Spurs), then this is where we are:

4 signings: Brighton, Burnley
2 signings: Bournemouth, Chelsea, Liverpool, Luton, Newcastle, Spurs
1 signing: Arsenal, Villa, Brentford, Palace, ManCity,
0 signings: Everton, Fulham, ManUtd, Forest, SheffUtd, West Ham, Wolves

buffybegood

alderz said:

JWP would be a great signing for us, IMO.

GK: Fabianski / Areola

RB: Coufal / Johnson
CB: Zouma / Kehrer
CB: Aguerd / Ogbonna
LB: Cresswell / Emerson

DM: Palhinha / Soucek
CM: Ward-Prowse / Scott
AM: Paqueta / Fornals

RW: Bowen / Cornet
LW: Barnes / Benhrama

ST: Scamacca / Antonio

I think this looks like a good squad, aside from the obvious issue of depth in defence.

Just checking, you're getting rid Downes, Ings (might be tough given his wages), Lanzini (gone), Rice (almost gone), Vlasic (not wanted), Coventry (nowhere near good enough). Downes, although not a superstar, might be a better long term alternative to Soucek as an outright DM (I feel it's his only possible position for us, but I'm not sure he's really been played as a single pivot DM for us), but there's a case for letting him go I guess.

Given likely fees, I suspect it's doable for a relatively low net spend, but we definitely must bring in a CB, and I think Johnson will be off (one year left, won't sign a new contract as he feels he's not being offered enough).

We must bring in a new CB imo. Zouma will miss games, and a CB pairing of Kehrer and Aguerd just doesn't have any sort of aerial dominance and would potentially be very vulnerable against certain attacks. So Johnson goes, we class Kehrer as a RB, and bring in a new CB; that's the minimum we have to do defensively imo.

OldCastleSwift

buffybegood said:

We must bring in a new CB imo. Zouma will miss games, and a CB pairing of Kehrer and Aguerd just doesn't have any sort of aerial dominance and would potentially be very vulnerable against certain attacks. So Johnson goes, we class Kehrer as a RB, and bring in a new CB; that's the minimum we have to do defensively imo.

Yup. Not a fan of moving Aguerd or Ogbonna to RCB in Zouma's absence, and I think Kehrer is a better RB than he is CB, so I think we need a right sided CB as one of our priority signings.

Agree on Downes, too. I think he's a better DM than Soucek, certainly better against the press which is something Soucek really struggles with.

ASLEFshrugged

Burnley is just three, CB Jordan Beyer was on loan last season from Borussia Monchengladbach

alderz

buffybegood said:

alderz said:

JWP would be a great signing for us, IMO.

GK: Fabianski / Areola

RB: Coufal / Johnson
CB: Zouma / Kehrer
CB: Aguerd / Ogbonna
LB: Cresswell / Emerson

DM: Palhinha / Soucek
CM: Ward-Prowse / Scott
AM: Paqueta / Fornals

RW: Bowen / Cornet
LW: Barnes / Benhrama

ST: Scamacca / Antonio

I think this looks like a good squad, aside from the obvious issue of depth in defence.

Just checking, you're getting rid Downes, Ings (might be tough given his wages), Lanzini (gone), Rice (almost gone), Vlasic (not wanted), Coventry (nowhere near good enough). Downes, although not a superstar, might be a better long term alternative to Soucek as an outright DM (I feel it's his only possible position for us, but I'm not sure he's really been played as a single pivot DM for us), but there's a case for letting him go I guess.

Given likely fees, I suspect it's doable for a relatively low net spend, but we definitely must bring in a CB, and I think Johnson will be off (one year left, won't sign a new contract as he feels he's not being offered enough).

We must bring in a new CB imo. Zouma will miss games, and a CB pairing of Kehrer and Aguerd just doesn't have any sort of aerial dominance and would potentially be very vulnerable against certain attacks. So Johnson goes, we class Kehrer as a RB, and bring in a new CB; that's the minimum we have to do defensively imo.

I'm not personally getting rid of anyone. I just find it easier to think 2 per position.

ASLEFshrugged

Daily Mail say Fulham want £90m for Palhinha and I don't see us spending most of the Rice money on one player.

Zakaria looks more likely, either on loan with an option to buy or a straight transfer.
Chelsea had a £25m option to buy last season

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Daily Mail say Fulham want £90m for Palhinha and I don't see us spending most of the Rice money on one player.

Zakaria looks more likely, either on loan with an option to buy or a straight transfer.
Chelsea had a £25m option to buy last season

I've seen other reports saying £60m for Palhinha, which is still steep, IMO.

It's being reported on the BBC today that Wolves are open to selling Max Kilman. He's someone that I would be very keen on seeing at West Ham. I like him a lot, he's great in a back three, but also plays either side of a centre back pairing. Also, he's about 11ft (6ft 3, just checked) tall and is a proper aerial presence.

buffybegood

£90m isn't realistic for Palhinha, and they know that; if someone came in with £60m I can't see them turning it down tbh, they'll have tripled their money in one season. However, even at an almost realistic £50m I feel it's way too much for a guy that was available at £20m the summer before; he's 28 in a few days so it's not even as though he's improved hugely, he's just gained exposure on a bigger stage.

For £50m I'd rather we got Tyler Adams (£30m) and Zakaria (£18m, or may be available on loan with option/obligation); both younger, admittedly with some injury concerns, but a much bigger upside imo.

buffybegood

alderz said:

I'm not personally getting rid of anyone. I just find it easier to think 2 per position.

Ah, OK, I guess I read it that way seeing as some players were listed and others omitted.

OutcastLondoner

Quite a few DMs have had a good season or two and then gone nowhere. I remember when I used to hear people telling me Ndidi and Bissouma were better than Rice.

That feels like too much for Palhinha.

ASLEFshrugged

Obviously Fulham have put a hefty price tag on Palhinha because they don't want to sell him (especially to another mid-table Premier League club)

MrsGrey

MrsGrey said:

Nigel Khan rings a bell. I think he might have been a member once, long ago.

Or maybe not 🤔

Searched the database and he's not there. I did purge a few names though, a while back, where people hadn't logged in for the past 10 years 😆

steve

Got some time on your hands have you MrsGrey

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Burnley is just three, CB Jordan Beyer was on loan last season from Borussia Monchengladbach

Turns out Burnley are just two, actually, as Michael Obafemi was there on loan next season.

Ravel49

MrsGrey said:

MrsGrey said:

Nigel Khan rings a bell. I think he might have been a member once, long ago.

Or maybe not 🤔

Searched the database and he's not there. I did purge a few names though, a while back, where people hadn't logged in for the past 10 years 😆

This name rings a 🔔 to me as well
Weren’t they very vocal about the move to the OS 😵‍💫

secrethammersfan

alderz said:

There's still rumours that Soucek might be off

Uh oh. Now you’re going to get people demanding evidence of those rumours. And forget about links to news websites. They’ll be declared to be just “links to the same story”.

MrsGrey

Ravel49 said:

MrsGrey said:

MrsGrey said:

Nigel Khan rings a bell. I think he might have been a member once, long ago.

Or maybe not 🤔

Searched the database and he's not there. I did purge a few names though, a while back, where people hadn't logged in for the past 10 years 😆

This name rings a 🔔 to me as well
Weren’t they very vocal about the move to the OS 😵‍💫

That's my memory. He must have been purged.

#Stalin606

MrsGrey

secrethammersfan said:

alderz said:

There's still rumours that Soucek might be off

And forget about links to news websites. They’ll be declared to be just “links to the same story”.

You say that like it's a bad thing. If they are all articles derived from a single source, don't we want to be aware of that?

ASLEFshrugged

MrsGrey said:

secrethammersfan said:

alderz said:

There's still rumours that Soucek might be off

And forget about links to news websites. They’ll be declared to be just “links to the same story”.

You say that like it's a bad thing. If they are all articles derived from a single source, don't we want to be aware of that?

I am 100% with this

Whenever I see an article I want to find the original source rather than just quoting something from a sad pair of muppets in Buckinghamshire (hammers.news) getting "clicks " from Googling other websites

secrethammersfan

MrsGrey said:

secrethammersfan said:

alderz said:

There's still rumours that Soucek might be off

And forget about links to news websites. They’ll be declared to be just “links to the same story”.

You say that like it's a bad thing. If they are all articles derived from a single source, don't we want to be aware of that?

Ask Prestonhammer.

PrestonHammer said:

That looks like the same story regurgitated 5 times. I believe it if it happens.

buffybegood

Hopefully Rice's transfer is sorted today and we can actually start signing some players ourselves.

PrestonHammer

I'm keeping schtum hahaha

Ravel49

Does he play left back 😜

#Hippomalarkey

OldCastleSwift

Latest Twitter talk:

Talks have begun with Ajax and Fulham for Alvarez and Palhinha.

Talks progress with Juve for a loan for Zakaria, with a £15m option next summer.

Sander Berge is a back-up option should we fail with our main targets (presumably those above)

Hudson-Odai is considered an option should the Barnes move fail.

All, it would seem, come from Ex's podcast.

Hamstew

So have we bid on Barnes according to EX or are we still "looking" at him?

OldCastleSwift

Haven't seen Barnes mentioned. Some speculation though that Newcastle are in for him.