After the embarrassing defeat last night, I wonder if the opportunity for us to bring in new players, chiefly a striker, has been hampered? Think of all that lost revenue in ticket sales, merchandise and food & drink…although Bilic & the board may have prioritized the league, I am sure Gold & Sullivan are not too pleased at losing out on all that money!
Onto the rumours now though and The Hull Daily Mail say we are looking to wrap up a deal for Nikica Jelavic. After being linked with the likes of Javier Hernandez, Moussa Sow & Charlie Austin over the last few weeks a deal for Jelavic would be rather underwhelming. I suspect though that this is the sort of deal the board would prefer to do, particularly after last night, as it will be a lot less damaging to the coffers….
It appears we have missed out on potential target Jean Makoun. The Cameroon international had previous Premier League experience, albeit brief, with Aston Villa and was available on a free transfer. Talksport? suggest he is now primed for a move to Turkey instead. A bullet dodged here I think.
Talksport are also claiming that the deal for Inter Milan full back Danilo D’Ambrosio is dead in the water after the player failed to agree personal terms. If the £9 million fee quoted is correct then I sincerely hope the board will now fully focus this money on a deal for a striker of a higher calibre than Jelavic & even Raul Jimenez.
Speaking of which, The Daily Mail say the deal for Jimenez is set to be completed after the a work permit was secured. Only time will tell how this pans out for West Ham but I just cannot get excited about this deal. I think this is the board jumping to react to the fact a striker is needed and signing the first player available…
And finally, the same source is claiming West Ham have joined Leicester, Schalke & Fiorentina in the hunt for Switzerland & Napoli midfielder Gokhan Inler. I believe this will be paper talk, I can’t see us chasing this deal if we are still in for Alex Song; at least I hope not anyway!! The player is the wrong side of 30 and not much of an improvement on the players we have in midfield already!
Have a nice weekend all!!