So, the August transfer deadline day has arrived and we keenly await last minute activity by our club. Across the PL, it has been a fairly quiet summer transfer window, but we might reasonably expect a flurry of last minute deals going through. The question is the degree to which West Ham will be involved?
The balance sheet so far is that Hitzlsperger, Barrera, Piquionne, Reid, Ben Haim (on loan) and Obinna (on loan) have arrived; whilst Diamanti and Daprela have departed. However, there are still a number of major issues that need resolving.
In particular, we are crying out for another right-back and Daprela’s departure now means that we also need cover at left-back. Additionally, it may also be good policy to secure experienced cover for Rob Green. I am assuming that Grant will stick with his existing players at centre-back and try to find an effective partnership. Although a last minute deal for Upson might change that?
Midfield is probably the strongest area of the squad at the moment. Although the futures of Parker and Behrami’s are obviously in question. While it looks like Kovac will remain with the club, at least until January. Diamanti’s exit means that we have lost a lot of creativity, which we really should be looking to replace. However, the reality is that good play makers are at a premium and cost accordingly.
Up front Cole is the subject of a Liverpool bid and it is rumoured that they are offering Lucas and/or Babel in exchange. Can Piquionne or McCarthy assume Cole’s role in leading the line? Or will Caracciolo or Gameiro be brought in? Obviously, we have signed Obinna on loan and he should add pace and power to the forward line. We will certainly need him if it true that Hines has suffered a set back in his rehabilitation and will not now be available until the new year. Finally, our best chance of a tried and tested PL goal scorer probably lies with signing Robbie Keane from Spurs, but will Scott Parker have to be sacrificed as part of the deal? And is that a price worth paying?
Indeed, one of the things to look out for will be part-exchange deals involving Carlton Cole and/or Scott Parker; as well as the possible sale of Behrami to Palermo. Player-exchange deals are ok in the right circumstances, but we must ensure that we gain more than we lose. It will also be interesting to see if Grant pursues his expressed interest in signing Mark Wilson from Pompey?
All shall be revealed by 6pm when the window closes. I just feel that it is worrying that we still need to do so much potential business in the final day of the window. What is the bare minimum that we can expect? Probably a full-back, a goal keeper and a striker. Will that be enough? It depends on the correlation between the quality of any additions and that of the players that we might lose in any horse trading?
Iain will be posting regular updates on the rumours/deals as they arise throughout deadline day. Optimistically, lets hope that he has some good news to post!!!!
Oh well, more in hope than expectation.
SJ. Chandos
Parker swapped for Hutton and Keane,yes,Cole for Babel and Cash,yes,Behrami needs replacing,Wilson we will probably miss out on,we just need invigorating and at least Babel and Keane have the ability and Hutton can play,fingers crossed and a deep intake of breath,hold on for the white knuckle ride,COYI!
Hutton was poor for Sunderland..
Mate I am hoping we get better.
Same man, this is West Ham though haha.
So at 4am British time, someone is thumbs downing,get a life!I am glad it is hot and sunny here I hope you are freezing your nuts off !
I actually thought Gabbidon and Upson played well against man utd. It therefore it comes a surprise to sees linked with yobo.
I think this deadline day is too late again. We need too many players in too many positions for this to happen today.
Right and left back, keeper and a striker are essential but this is not going to happen in one day. We should never of sold diamanti and daprela unless we had replacements lined up…….this was shocking business from g&s
Yobo joining our club would be a brilliant signing if it happened.
The man has serious EPL experience, and would be a welcome addition.
The thing is he is a CB, and we are in more desperate need of a RB. We'll see what pans out however.
Behrami better not leave for under 4 million. When he's fit and playing he's worth around double that in today's market.
There is now confirmation on official website of Daprela exit but no news on an arival yet!
wilson at stoke so thats a no go for starters!!!
Erm, we al ready have a proven premier league goal scorer, his name is Carlton Cole and we already have (depsite being overlooked by the over paid posturer) a world class defensive midfielder, so yeah, lets sell players people want for millions less then they are worth and players they dont , realy bright clever idea that, especially considering the start we have made this season, if we sell Parker and Cole i'm certain we wil end up relegated, unless they are sold for their true value AND we find adequate replacements by the time THIS transfer window closes. Trouble is i still believe Golivan are more interested in profits then success on the pitch.
According to the official website the reason we let Daprela go was because:
"… the return to fitness of DR CONGO International Herita Ilunga and the emergence of first-year professional Jordan Brown have limited his opportunities in 2010/2011"
What a load of old Tosh… Daprela was a young lad with tons of potential. Are they seriously saying that if the 'out of sorts' Ilunga gets injured we have sufficient cover in Jordan Brown? Or will we still relly on Spector as cover – the mind boggles!!!
What is going on behind closed doors, and in the heads of G&S, GOD only knows.
I hope we get a couple of quality players in before the end of the afternoon…
COYI
like most of you i wanted daprela to stay. i always thought he was good enough to break into our first team and i am still bitter about his departure BUT
now that i am calming down a bit, i am trying to think more rationally.
if ilunga was injured for most of last season why did we play a low quality right footted player instead of him?
why was daprela not employed in his position?
zola and nani broght him in and did not use him
grant let him go
so i am assuming all these football people saw something we are not aware of.
Maybe so Veldom… but the few games he did play for us he looked quality and thats all we can go on… so this one does seem rather bemusing..
Gyan will probably go to Sunderland… Gutted.
yeah.
I can't believe they got Onuoha on loan though.
Why did we not look into that?
They also have Mensah on loan.
And Diouf from Man United is at Blackburn, another gone opportunity. It's one thing seeing another player join a club for a fee we possibly couldn't afford, but it's another seeing clubs of our level get loanees in positions we needed strengthening in!
Exactly, and now we've left it until the last day to find about 4 decent players!
Which won't happen – we may get 2 at best, but could also see one or more of Cole, Parker, Behrami leave… unless we swap Cole and Parker with 2 players from Liverpool and Spurs respectively. Wouldn't want to see them go, but maybe that could shake things up nicely!!! Just a thought.
At the moment West Ham are crap with all these 'STARS' on our books – so maybe off-loading a couple and replacing with the likes of Keane and Babel might not be such a bad thing???
I've always thought that we've had more big name players than alot of other clubs (i mean look at blackpool, yet they are still getting very impressive results so far), so maybe replacing some of our bigger names COULD, emphasis on COULD, change things up for the better.
In no way am I suggesting we sell them, but if we do then maybe things might chance.
You can have all teh big name players you want but they have to have the passion and the commitment. The new boys like Barerra and Piquionne, also Dyer who has been out FOREVER, all seem to be our best players at the moment IMO – they look like they want to play for us and will give everything for us. More than can be said for the others (except Parker – although even he hasn't been his normal self)!
For me the transfer deadline can't come wuick enough, hopefully with a couple of quality additions, so we can stop speculating and get on with what we have…
COYI
You watch we will be lucky to get any and if that is the case welcome to ARMAGEDDON DAVE!
totally agree.
Gold/Sullivan, please not to attempt to justify yourself by saying a load of tosh.
Just simply say "he's gone", or possibly more relevant these days "he's gone for half his market value"
dont expect three signings. expect disapointment.
Hi all
This transfer excitement has led me to sign up and join the fray (hmmm!)
Not sure if the unusual lack of media furore concerning WH is a good or bad thing.
I'm not enjoying this dull feeling in the pit of my gut, I'm hoping when the window's shut whoever remains settles down to a bit of hard graft.
There's a few who seem to be playing with an uncharacteristic lack of commitment.
this is an interesting read cahillcc: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_632…
Reports that Pascal Chimbonda has signed from Blacburn of a free.
Believable -yes? True-who knows.Surely not , he's RB and we need one,so cant be
not heard of this site but everything else seems uptodate and accurate http://www.cradlebay.co.uk/index.php/2010/08/31/t…