With the departure of James Collins and concerns over Winston Reid’s injury record, the centre back position is an area Manuel Pellegrini is reportedly prioritising over the summer transfer window.
A number of defender names have been linked in the media to this position including Barcelona’s Marlon Santos, Leeds Pontus Jansson, Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, Genoa’s Armando Izzo, Swansea’s Alfie Mawson, West Brom’s Johnny Evans and Craig Dawson.
In today’s Claret and Hugh poll we ask which target you would like to join West Ham in the centre back position?
How many of your readers do you think have actually seen each of these players play? My guess is very few, if any, in which case what is the value of such a poll?
Because it’s off-season and there’s £&*k all else to do….??
What is more concerning, is that most ‘voters’ in the poll will probably have seen Ryan Shawcross and 3 people actually voted for him…..!!!!!!!
Lol
I voted Santos – however I haven’t even heard of him until we was linked with him.
So I have no idea how good he is or could be. He sounds like a risk, but he also sounds existing. But i base this on only what i have heard and seen in you tube clips.
I’m a fan of mawson, good old fashioned heart on the sleeve hard tackling British lionhearted kind of player. I can serve why Moyes and Pearce would have wanted him. Don’t know much about santos but from the clips I’ve seen he seems more suited to a team that wants to play it out from the back pellegrini Man City style. So it could work out if he can adjust to the premier league pace and pressure. The clips I saw of him whatever league he was playing he had all the time in the world to play the ball out of defence. He looks like a ball playing centre half. My only concern with that is his height only five eleven, and lack of Ariel ability apparently. I don’t think you could play him next to rice, I think it would be him or rice. I think you would need a more traditional defensive ball clearing, If in doubt clear it out type centre back in the james Collins mold or dare I say it Masson mold, alongside him.
Santos looks to me though like he might make a good defensive midfielder. Maybe in the system pellegrini used to favour which was 4222 you could play him and rice as the 2 defensive midfielders in front of Ogbonna and Reid.