Another week gone, still no further new arrival(s) at West Ham. Plenty of irons in the fire by all accounts though, but more of that later. Let’s get Concordia out of the way quickly as they had their first two preseason games over the weekend, the first one on Saturday by way of helping a club called Stapelfeld to officially open their new little ground.
Cordi acted as party poopers though (not that surprising as Cordi play several levels above Stapelfeld), it was a 7:0 win for the Cordi lads although in fairness it could and should have been 15:0 easily, so I suppose Concordia were trying to be well behaved and respectful guests after all by missing some of those sitters in order to avoid a double figure scoreline.
Sunday then offered us a look at St.Pauli’s U23 team, a promising bunch of young prospects who play one level above Concordia but it didn’t really show on the day as St.Pauli won a decent game by a narrow margin of 2:1. Most of last season’s squad are still around at Cordi plus some new additions who so far look like useful acquisitions.
One sad news though is that our best goalkeeper will have to hang up his gloves due to recurring issues with his knee. What makes this even more galling is the fact that only last season he had returned to the pitch after successfully fighting the big C, so to then be denied the opportunity to play just one more season in goal for the club he loves feels incredibly unfair after all the guy’s been through.
Meanwhile Cordi’s goalkeeping coach Oliver Hänke (the Everton fan who named his dog Neville after their former goalkeeper Neville Southall) casually told me after the game he met West Ham’s first team coach Edin Terzic recently while holidaying in Mallorca.
Singing his praises, he told me that Terzic apparently is very happy at West Ham and also highly upbeat about the upcoming season. Let’s hope he’s right…
Over the last weekend numerous names have popped up in the rumour columns of strikers West Ham might be interested in signing. We are apparently still in for the likes of Giroud and Iheanacho, with other clubs being hot on their heels as well, obviously. There is an added legal issue attached to any deal for Iheanacho due to the player having to sort out which agent is actually legally entitled to represent him. So this could take a few more weeks, if a deal does actually happen at all this summer. We shall see.
Also a deal for Anthony Modeste could be back on. The striker was China bound until the club over there and Cologne couldn’t agree on a payment plan for the transfer fee which was rumoured to be a whopping 35 million Euros. So it initially looked as if Modeste would stay in Cologne after all, he even claims he never wanted to leave in the first place and was deeply in love with his club from the bottom of his heart.
Bridges though already seem to burn away at both ends with Cologne accusing Modeste’s agent of sabotaging the transfer to China with his own personal greed.
Modeste is not prepared to accept that criticism, he in fact has accused the club of not wanting him anymore being the main reason for them trying to engineer a deal with a Chinese club, cashing in on him in the process.
I’ll nail my colours to the mast here and say: Modeste would be a great signing for us, he is exactly the kind of player we need. Cologne have mainly him and his goals to thank for the fact they finished last season in 5th place, giving them Europa League football again after a 25 year sabbatical from International competition.
25 goals and three assists in 34 games, that’s a stat I can’t and won’t argue with.
Why is Modeste a perfect fit ? Because he is a natural finisher, because he is an aerial threat and because he is at his best when playing on the counter.
Perfect for a team like West Ham who rarely dominate in terms of ball possession and ball retention.
Another one I’d love to see in claret and blue next season is Little Pea Chicharito aka Javier Hernandez whose release clause stands at only £13m which should pretty much fall into the bargain category in today’s crazy transfer market. For that price I’d expect many potential takers for the Mexican striker who at 29 years should still have plenty of good seasons in the tank. He reminds me of Tony Cottee insofar as he is a nippy little player with a natural eye for goal.
He is a finisher first and foremost and due to his diminutive physique not much of an aerial threat, but give him an opportunity in the box and he will put it away more often than not. Ice cold in front of goal, clinical, those have been attributes to describe Little Pea in his career so far. He also uses both feet equally well, has great acceleration and is also a very decent passer of the ball, I could see him building a nice understanding on the pitch with Manuel Lanzini. Those two would also win us a ton of freekicks I reckon.
Other rumours I’ve read were Villareal striker Cedric Bakambu (great name!), Benfica striker Raul Jimenez and Burnley’s Andre Gray. It looks though as if the only way we will have a chance of signing any of these players if we are willing to pay about 5 million more for targets like Modeste and Bakambu than we apparently are prepared to offer at this point. I know our board keep telling us we are not exactly flush with money, but surely we have a transfer kitty not significantly smaller than last season.
Which should allow us to begin getting two new strikers in before other teams make quick, decisive moves.
Every target signing elsewhere limits our options, but it doesn’t necessarily make it easier (or cheaper) for us to sign any of the remaining targets. I really hope we see some movement in that respect in the coming days as our team today start with their preseason training I believe and new arrivals will need some time to bed in.
I’m still happy as a cat that has found an unguarded bowl of prawns about our shake-up in the medical department. We now have Gary Lewin (Ex-England and Arsenal) as new head of Medical Science at West Ham. And Lewin has wasted no time in bringing in his tried and trusted former England colleague Dr. Ian Beasley as new club doctor, the position he previously held for both England and Arsenal.
I’m convinced the changes won’t stop there. Lewin and Beasley (does that sound like a London based law firm or what?) will surely have a close look at our training regime, warm up and cool down routines and also the way players are being reintroduced to training and playing games after suffering injuries. I reckon there will be some very useful input of these gentlemen which should significantly cut down both the number of injuries we suffer and also the layoff times of the injured players too. Which alone may be enough to let us finish one or two places higher up the table compared to last season.
The new medical set-up will most probably serve as the biggest key to a more successful season for us this time, on par maybe with strengthening and upgrading our options upfront.
However, I don’t expect us to be pleasantly surprised by the board and their efforts in the transfer market. In fact I am in no way even mildly optimistic. My breath while waiting for new signings is not exactly bated anymore.
Miracles do happen from time to time. I know that. But modesty (or penuriousness) doesn’t get you far in the Premier League in 2017. It’s a tough old business. Are we ready to do what it takes ? I feel the owners are out of their depth, trying to take on too much stuff on their own.
We need more professionals at the club to help them improving things at West Ham, for instance a proper director of football. Who knows though if the board would even want a move like that to happen.
COYI!!!