Gonzo looks at an unsustainable transfer policy
I don’t subscribe to the theory that this season’s poor form is significantly depreciating Declan Rice’s transfer value. In fact, there are a couple of other players who are creating far more financial concern, but we’ll get to them later.
Declan is a prize asset but also insulated from normal market fluctuations by a few factors. He is a leader who rarely gets injured but it’s his nationality that is the real commodity. Alongside Phil Foden (in my opinion) Declan is the outstanding English player of his generation and that commands a premium.
With the home-grown quota rule forcing clubs to include domestic players in their squad everyone is on the lookout for capable British talent. Rice is as close as it gets to a sure thing such is his consistency and his traits will make him attractive to all of the big hitters in the Premier League.
Maybe West Ham won’t get the £100m often mentioned but at £70m there will be a bidding war which would bring Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal to the table. Throw in moneybags Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United and we could easily see the bidding rise to £90m.
The real issue for West Ham will be if manager David Moyes continues to struggle to integrate Scamacca and Paqueta into the team. The Hammers lost £25m on Sebastien Haller and almost £35m on Felipe Anderson which can have a massive impact on a club of West Ham’s size.
Declan – yellow carded
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that an unhappy Scamacca could return to Italy for a £15m loss or if a misfiring Lucas Paqueta were to be hawked out on loan to try and find form and value.
At the moment the club is trying to push through a deal that would see us accept a £15m loss on Nicola Vlasic during an 18 month period. This is shocking and unsustainable business practice by anyone’s standards.
In short, the club is haemorrhaging money. The irony is that David Moyes tries to be careful with the club’s money during his transfer dealings. His stance with Amadou Onana’s wage demands is to be commended. However it’s an insignificant and futile exercise if he’s going to keep buying players for £40m and flogging them at half price.
Fair point. Repeatedly losing money on players is unsustainable poor business (Unless your Man Utd)… however, the projected incomes for Premier league commercial deals is estimated to be £10-11billion (According to the Times) meaning that so long as West Ham stay in the Premiership, losing £10 – 20mil. a season on a player is unlikely to bankrupt GSBK.