Remember I hinted at a player from the Italian League with the ‘wow’ factor joining us? Well, it looks very much like that player is the Brazilian midfielder MancinI. According to The Sun he is coming to Upton Park on a season long loan with an option to buy. He is 28 and plays on the right side of midfield and can also play at right back.
The Upson rumours still abound, and according to the West Ham Fans blog Mark Noble is on his way to Man U. I think not.
According to the Telegraph, the deal to sign Luis Jiminez on loan from Inter Milan, with an option to buy, is done. Apparently Scott Duxbury has been in Milan today and has beaten Spurs to his signature. That will no doubt give Mr D as much pleasure as signing the player himself. I have to say I am not a fan of these one year loan deals with an option to buy, for invariably, if the player does really well he then moves on to one of the top four, or prices himself out of our range. But if needs must…
What the Telegraph doesn’t say is that while he’s there Duxbury is hoping to sign a second player from the Italian league. I don’t know his identity, but gather he has a certain “wow” factor. Hold tight folks, it looks like it’s going to be a riveting close season in the transfer stakes.
The Telegraph also says the club has received an enquiry from Manchester City for Matthew Upson. Personally, I can’t see why he would go there, but money talks.
There’s some chatter in the papers today about us signing Micah Richards as a replacement for Lucas Neill. There’s little doubt that he’s potentially a fantastic, even world class, player. But over the last two years he seems to have lost his way. Perhaps he needs a new challenge and the nurturing management style of Gianfranco Zola. But what are the other options? Luke Young, a Hammers fan, who we nearly signed a couple of years ago could be another option as he is out of favour at Villa.
Personally, I think Richards would be a hell of a signing at the right price.
Who else should be on our right back shortlist?
Several of the papers are putting two and two together and drawing conclusions from the fact that Matthew Upson has put his Essex house up for sale. In theory it means nothing, but we all know that Upson isn’t getting any younger and is desperate to play European football. He’s been quite open about it. I suspect he’d be quite happy to continue at Upton Park, but if a good offer comes in for him from one of the top four, I am of the view that he will be off. He cost us £8 million in January 2007, so that begs the question: what would we get for him now? I cannot see a case for letting him go for below £10 million, which is quite a lot of money for a 30 year old. Some will say it makes sense to cash in now on what can only be a diminishing asset.
I’d be sorry to see him leave as I think he was a key player for us last season. He played well with whoever partnered him, especially James Tomkins. Quite who we would find to replace him is anyone’s guess.
Scott Duxbury has given an interview to Sky Sports today in which he says the club are targetting three players. He says Zola has identified three positions which he thinks needs strengthening. I assume they are right back, striker and, well, I’m not sure what the third is – another striker? I can’t believe some on here think we should be signing Obafeme Martens from Newcastle. Haven’t we had enough Newcastle players in recent times?
So, who would you be targeting if you were Zola?
It has been announced this morning that West Ham have been sold to asset management group CB Holdings, as first mooted on this blog a few months ago. CB Holdings is majority owned by the Icelandic bank Straumur. The club’s new chairman Andrew Bernhardt has pledged stability and investment in new players.
“We have one of the best young management partnerships in Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke and the team has evolved with a great mix of experience and young players coming through from the Academy.
“I can assure fans we will sanction investment in new players, but all within the parameters of sensible budgeting based on revenues generated by West Ham United.
“It will be my job to help facilitate this continued progress on the pitch, while ensuring the club’s success is built on a strong financial footing.
“We have an initial two-year plan which includes improving the infrastructure at the club and we will be getting to work on this as soon as the new board is appointed.”
Sky Sports has the full story. More HERE on the club’s website.
Read THIS article from today’s Mail on Sunday…
The chaos surrounding West Ham’s ownership is likely to be solved by a £70million American buyout brokered by football’s most prominent banker, Keith Harris, which will be completed before the start of the season.
The bankruptcy of owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson means that Icelandic bank Straumur, itself controlled by the Icelandic financial authorities after its own problems, is in the process of taking over responsibility for the club.
With debts of about £50m and a £26m compensation package due to Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair, Straumur will have to accept a knockdown price or take the risk of running it themselves.
Harris, also negotiating the sale of Newcastle to a local businessman backed by foreign investors, is talking with an American corporation to bring together yet another financial package.
Vote!
Polling stations are open until 10pm tonight. Go on, you know you want to…
The club website confirms that Lucas Neill will not play for West Ham next season, having turned down the offer of a long term contract. It’s also confirmed that Tristan and Di Michele are not being retained (phew!) and several other established players have been given free transfers. These include Lee Bowyer, Kyel Reid and Walter Lopez.
West Ham United can confirm Lucas Neill has rejected the offer of a new one-year contract after the release of the retained list of players for the 2009/10 season.
Following discussions in recent weeks which saw the out-of-contract defender seeking a one-year deal to take him up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the club made the 31-year-old right-back a significant offer to retain his services. However, he rejected that contract proposal this week and is pursuing other opportunities. West Ham United wish him well after two-and-a-half years’ service and will focus on improving the first-team squad for the new season.
The club are working hard on a number of transfer targets for the coming campaign, having already secured many players on long-term deals. During the 2008/09 season, a dozen – all capped at various international levels – have pledged their future while highly-rated Hungary Under-21 goalkeeper Peter Kurucz has agreed a permanent four-year switch from Ujpest FC after a successful loan spell.
The 12 players were Herita Ilunga, whose own permanent transfer from Toulouse for an undisclosed fee comes into force this summer, Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Savio Nsereko, Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas, Marek Stech, James Tomkins, Dean Ashton, Valon Behrami, Carlton Cole and Scott Parker, the new Hammer of the Year.
Diego Tristan, Lee Bowyer, Walter Lopez, Kyel Reid, Tony Stokes and Jimmy Walker are free to leave the Boleyn Ground, while Jan Lastuvka, Radoslav Kovac and David Di Michele have completed their initial loan spells and return to UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk, Spartak Moscow and Torino respectively.
The loans of Calum Davenport and Julien Faubert to Sunderland and Real Madrid respectively will both officially end this month. Academy youngsters Jack Jeffery, Ashley Miller, Tom Harvey and Ryan O’Neill have not been offered new professional deals while Joe Widdowson has joined Grimsby Town.
The club would like to wish all the departing players well in their future careers.
I suspect there will be a few more departures – Davenport and Faubert among them, before the new season starts.
Performance Analysis
We have only seen flashes of Kieron Dyer this season, but enough to know that a fully fit Kieron Dyer is a very exciting prospect indeed. He doesn’t seem to have lost any of his lightning speed. But his injury record is still a real worry. In two seasons with us he has only appeared a handful of times. It’s not his fault, and he needs to be given a real chance before any decision can be made about his long term future.
Strengths:
Speed, dribbling.
Weaknesses:
Injury prone, lifestyle.
Marks
Consistency 2
Workrate 8
Skill 9
Speed 9
Value to team 4
Leadership 4
Teamwork 4
Ever presence 2
Discipline 5
Season overall 3
TOTAL 50
Stay Or Go
Stay, on the premise that he deserves a chance.
Transfer Value: £3 million
