These days I have Bananarama on my mind a lot – it’s not because I’ve met Venus, or I’m standing accused of love in the third degree or because Robert De Niro’s waiting around a street corner near my flat but indeed due to a very Cruel Summer wreaking havoc here in Hamburg, one of the hottest and most exhausting ones I can remember in the 46 and a bit years of walking this planet.
The heat just drains you out and so I just try to drink a lot of water throughout the day, try to find a reasonably cool place and spend as little time as possible outside in full exposure to the burning sun.
Watching West Ham play Ipswich in preseason on an internet stream is acceptable under the circumstances as well, so that’s just what I did, sandwiched between watching Cordi’s U23s draw their season opener on Friday and Concordia’s first team losing theirs 1:3 on Sunday afternoon – another game that felt as if being played in the middle of a hot stone pizza oven.
Make no mistake, the performance against Ipswich was nowhere near as mesmerising as the earlier game against Villa, but there was still a lot to like. Players got another decent run-out, match fitness got improved upon, we saw some fine passing moves, but also some shocking defending.
But let’s not be too harsh on players who got only properly introduced to each other a fortnight or so ago – natural understanding between teammates will develop over time and things should get better with every training session and every game.
Besides, most other teams will have exactly the same issues as us, so I wouldn’t worry too much on that front. At this point I breathe a sigh of relief whenever a preseason game ends with all our lads coming out of the trenches unscathed. If the players don’t get injured and MP has learned a bit more about our players and our tactics I would consider it a successful preseason encounter all around.
I also love seeing mistakes in preseason games because it means the issue can be addressed in training and those mistakes will hopefully not happen again in the games that matter.
We are now approaching the decisive period of the transfer window, the final ten minutes of the game so to speak, and that is when deals will begin to happen thick and fast, left, right and center.
It’s the time when the staff of the Transfermarkt website face their customary vacation lock implemented by their CEO (who also happens to be the Concordia chairman) – it’ll get very busy and I reckon West Ham aren’t done yet, both in terms of departures and new arrivals.
The one most likely to leave at this point seems to be Cheikhou Kouyate. Apparently we are looking to sell for around the £15 million mark, either to Crystal Palace (which appears to be Kouyate’s prefered option) or using him in part-exchange for a Porto player, more of that further down.
Sam Byram (I still love his poems by the way) seems destined for Nottingham Forest, Reece Oxford may return to that team from Germany again (Moenchengladbach), if The Foals’ Eleven (as they are traditionally known) can cough up between £10-15 million for the young defender/holding midfielder who has failed to make an impact at West Ham.
Meanwhile Pedro Obiang’s future still appears to be hanging somewhat in the balance. If a deal happens it may be a loan deal with an obligation to buy and the most likely destination will be his former club Sampdoria Genoa.
However, Obiang will not be forced out against his wishes and it looks like Obiang may well prefer to hang around a bit longer with MP running the show at West Ham now.
I wouldn’t mind keeping Obiang as a squad player and to give us more depth, but maybe a transfer to Genoa where he can start the majority of games may be the best option all around here.
Kouyate in contrast could be used as a makeweight in a potential deal for Porto’s Moussa Marega, a 27 year old striker/attacking midfielder with Malian roots. If you’re watching video highlights of him or browse pictures of the guy he looks like a strong lad.
He really must have eaten his broccoli as a kid, I suppose you don’t get called The Malian Beast for nothing…:-))
The guy has been an absolute revelation last season, helping Porto to win yet another title in the process:
22 goals scored in the league, 5 assists, just one yellow card. I can see why MP might be interested to add him to our squad before the transfer window is shut.
Versatility is Marega’s key attribute, he can play all across the frontline or even as a right winger although his most lethal position appears to be right in the center of attack.
Finishing is his main strength, but he is also good in the air, can strike ’em from outside the box or dribble his way through defenders.
Bad points are offside awareness (which can be taught in training I reckon), defensive contribution and holding on to the ball at times.
However, with a scoring ratio like his, you gladly take the bad with the good I reckon. I hope we can make this deal happen. Husillos is apparently heading to Porto for talks this week.
Let me tell you right now that I love the way how very few rumours, in contrast to previous summers, actually seem to be finding their way from the club into social media and the public domain.
I reckon it shows a new direction and more professional approach installed by Pellegrini already and I for one appreciate that a lot. Hopefully this will help us to actually bring some crucial deals over the line that otherwise may have faltered for one reason or another.
Andre Gomes has been on our radar for a while now, we were interested as early as last summer apparently, but with MP in charge now our chances of getting the player signed up may have improved significantly, although he will not come cheap.
Gomes of course is the young midfielder from Barcelona (and Portugal) boasting bucketloads of skills and an eye for the killer pass. Gomes, having just celebrated his 25th birthday, can unlock opposing teams with a quick through ball, a sudden burst of pace, with his creativity and smart reading of the game.
Gomes has an interesting background to say the least, involving dodgy third party ownership (ahem, Carlos, can you hear me ?), loan-to-buy deals (yes Mr.Zaza, I’m not a fan either) and agents pulling the strings away from the limelight, not always in the best interest of their client it appears.
Hailing from the renowned Benfica youth system originally, he looks like the perfect Lanzini replacement.
We all know that Barcelona have an abundance of good or even great midfielders at their disposal to pick and choose from – and not every talented player can make it there.
So we shouldn’t turn up our collective noses at a player who may have struggled to quite make the grade at Barcelona, he may still have plenty to offer to a club like ours.
We can certainly do with (another) decent passer of the ball in midfield and Gomes can definitely do that although you won’t see him tackle opposition players much, but then again there are other players in our squad who can put in a tackle if need be much better than Gomez ever could.
Whatever happens from now till the end of the transfer window – I am convinced that MP has a very clear idea already in terms of how he wants us to play and which players are required to follow that blueprint.
Whatever outgoings, whatever new arrivals still to come, I am absolutely positive now that our squad will be significantly better compared to last season. Our players will run more (and faster), pass the ball better and as a result our football should be a lot more pleasing on the eye.
It will still take some time for players to gel and transfering MP’s ideas from his brain to our football on the pitch. But I am confident. I am even looking forward to watching our games again. I’m excited again, rather than bored or nervous.
I may even be tempted to break my vow and purchase a new club shirt or jacket next time I’m over. The summer may be cruel and relentless, but it feels good to be a Hopeful Hammer again…COYI!!!