I’ve been watching events closely at West Ham during the summer and back the board’s position in trying to bring in a top striker.
So far they have missed out on Lacaeztte and Batshuayi – both were well over priced – and in this market place you are never gonna get value for money anyway given the TV money loating around and the inflationary demands.
However, I have no problem with the club paying out the sort of money they are talking about as although we would be okay with what we have – Valencia excepted – ok just isn’t good enough!
Having attracted Dimitri Payet to the club he will be looking for other top players to join him and I’m sure that was in the script when he was signed.
Currently Mario Gomez is being touted as a likely arrival and at around £8m – £9m he wouldn’t be a gambe. Scores goals and is big and awkward – he’d be a decent signing.
Eden Dzeko has always been a favourite of mine and if the club could get him at around £15 million that would be good business too.
Benteke? No not for me. I think he’d probably give you 10-12 goals a season and as we know hsn’t torn up any trees at Liverpool. One decent season at Aston Villa isn’t enough to make a massive investment.
I think Jamie Vardy would have been a decent shout but it’s clear he was never going to leave Leicester so that was never going to happen.
Whoever they get, Valencia has to go. He just hasn’t done enough. But I’d love to see Diafra Sakho stay. All of you know how highly I rate him.
On the pitch he will go through the middle or out wide, get in behnd players and make life so much easier for the likes of Dimi Payet who clearly loves playing for him.
However, it’s very clear for me he has a temperament and if he can’t sort that out and it becomes a problem to the dressing room he will need to leave.
I don’t know exactly what is going on but the manager needs to sort it out unless he finds the player isn’t rewarding his efforts. In which case, sadly, it will need to be a parting of the ways.
He needs to knuckle down and get on with it. This lad has it all for me and I really hope he sorts his stuff out and shows what he’s about again.
Agree with most things Leroy say’s.
Batshuayi is a big missed opportunity, even at £35 Million in today’s market.
And yes Mario Gomez would be a fantastic bargain at around £8M – £9M.
But I disagree about Benteke. At only 25, I feel whoever get’s him will do really well.
He scored one goal in everu 2 games. And even at Liverpool where he was mainly used from the bench, in actual playing minutes he still scored better than one goal every 120 minutes. That’s still 1 in 2.games. So even in a team where they didn’t play to his strengths that’s still a great return. no I would be more than happy with Gomez and Benteke with Sakho and Carroll. Pretty good squad of forwards to see us through a tough season.
One does have to be a little careful about the goals per minute comparison as when a player isn’t playing throughout games his time on the pitch tends to make him fresher and sharper than those around him and thus at an advantage. But that said I agree Benteke, if we miss bigger and better targets would still be a good buy at the right price, or on a loan to buy. Gomez would be a decent buy too though there are age and fitness issues to be concerned about and if he comes then a fresh young striker is also required to grow into the role when Gomez isn’t playing, if not as effective as hoped or after he is gone a season or two down the line.
Take a look at then Villa goals showreel on the web and then say Benteke wouldn’t be worth buying. Big, fast, great shot, loves to run at/past defenders and good in the air. Whacked ’em past keepers from all distances and positions. Certainly worthy of another look.
Don’t think Benteke is worth 30 mil still think Carol a better player !!
There isn’t much truth be told between Benteke and Carroll but if both were fit I would take Carroll all day long because he makes defenders work for 90 minutes and Benteke can go missing certainly 30m is way too much 15 -20 is probably too much based on the return you get, with regards to Leroys assessment of Valencia I disagree, I understand why he thinks Sakho has it all, he is a similar player to Leroy in that he runs the channels well and puts in a shift every game, I think Valencia does the same but different people have different opinions, my belief is that with a CF such as Gomez that is intelligent we could end up with two 20+ scorers as Gomez could play Valencia in and Sakho rarely creates chances for his strike partner. We have signed Jimenez from Valencia I am looking forward to what he may do next season also in the number 10 position we might see Samuelson emerge although probably he needs at least another season preferably in the Championship to develop further, with all this new talent we are signing things look very positive in the medium term for us, COYI!!!
I agree that we should give both Sakho and Valencia another season. First, they tend to play better as a striking duo; second, they both have ability, and perhaps Slav hasn’t quite appreciated what they are capable of and got the best out of them.. If we let them go, we may find that our striker depth is dangerously low. One thing needs to be addressed in relation to Sakho; his weekly wages of 27,000/week are shameful compared to someone like AC; no wonder his self-esteem is so low!