Slaven Bilic has decided he doesn’t want to sign Scott Hogan and only a late minute U-turn will change the situation.
That is now unlikely and the field may be open for Crystal Palace to sign a player who is still valued at between £13m – £15 million by Brentford.
Bilic has been uncertain about Hogan throughout the month long speculation over a possible purchase and still believes he has enough with Andy Carroll in his best form for a long time and Diafra Sakho coming back.
The deal now looks dead with a source saying: “The manager doesn’t show any signs of agreeing a deal and although things can change at any time it really would be a surprise .
“Several people inside the club who have seen the boy think he’s worth a punt but if the manager says no then that really is the end of it.”
The Hammers were only ever ready to pay £9 million plus extras and at £13 – £15m there is even less interest as the player heads towards a free transfer in the summer.
It is a difficult one, but relying on Carroll & Sakho to get/stay fit is a massive risk. Was it two years ago/ three years ago we took months to limp from 30 pts to safety. But it’s a risk taking an untried striker with an injury record-especially at the stated price.It feels a bit like the Charlie Austin situation last year. But then he has had a long spell out recently.
Bilic didn’t like Antonio but did like Jelavić and Töre. Lets hope this isn’t another decision to regret.
Or you can look on the positive side that he liked Payet & Lanzini when us mugs barely even knew who they were,especially Lanzini.You win some,you lose some 😂
2018 his contract finishes i believe from my top West London source Ronnie the Sparks.Not this summer.Just saying 😁
Sounds like a negotiating ploy to me, surely even our approach wouldn’t have been to make our interest so public without the manager liking the player!
My money is that he will join. Perhaps we have done a deal for Sturridge!?
Well if true we have to trust his judgement, we have had a number of poor striker aquisitions, the way he plays would seem a good fit, he looks smarter in the box thank Sakho or Carroll and has the physicality of a Shane Long but he has had two cruciate ligament knee injuries, furthermore at the end of the year he would be available on a free transfer if the reports are correct that his contract expires in the summer. We can afford to wait until the summer on a striker seeing as the most likely outcome is that we won’t finish in the European places. We have Sakho, Fletcher, Sakho, Callieri, Carroll, Antonio and Ayew that can all fill that role if required and if Martinez catches fire in Oxford he may also be under consideration next year. Hopefully we can get a deal done for this St Etienne right back to provide cover/competition for Byram.
As much as I try I still can’t get my head around Billic’s Callieri decision?
I was pretty so so on this move.It would be nice to get some additional fire power but leaving it until the summer would be my preference if im honest.
Did we even officially bid for him?.I mean i have seen lots of reports in the media but how many official bids did we make?
I get a bit lost with stories that are non-stories eventually.We bid a couple of times & they got turned down?
Bloody hell someone give me 100 lashes i just went to Pants to read Hs article.Forgive me father for i have sinned.
I see no one has managed to catch that bloody gobby cat & stick it down the well 😂😂
Im joking,im joking before war breaks out 😂
Not sure what to believe. we need a striker & cover for the right back position yet all we hear is Bilic linked with wingers or centre backs. I do not understand this obsession. why can’t the board just buy them ( as per Lanzini ) before Bilic buys another Tore or we get saddled with more dodgy loan players. If there are no quality players available surely the second half of the season we should be giving some of the youngsters a run in the first team Bilic is looking more like Allerdyce in this respect.
So what youngsters should be in the first team then? Who have you seen that is up for the Prem.It is not a coincidence that neither Allardyce or Bilic play them.Which of the Allardyce era of youth players are now making a name for themselves in the Prem at other clubs you seem to believe he neglected to play?
Well it was Bilic wanted Lanzini not the board.He wanted to sign him previously when he managed Spartak or Besiktas.I cant remember which.So if it was down to the board on that one we wouldnt have had Lanzini 😉
He tried to take him to Besiktas Lama
Every manager buys some turkeys.God knows why some of you assume its only Bilic.Look at Van Gaal one of the most experienced, trophy laden managers about & he signed some real dross at United.Fat Sam signed some turkeys before Bilic did he not.
From what I’ve seen of him he has a very good chance of being a good player in the prem.
The Callieri decision is beyond me! The guy is a donkey and he will never make it at WH. Let him go and get the salary off our books. Why are we loaning Fletcher out? He looks ten times better. Bilic maybe knows something we don’t!
Think this is a good call tbh. Couldn’t see any striker who isnt good with his back to goal or good at winning headers realisticly fitting in with Bilic’s style. He plays quite a direct game which requires someone to hold the ball up and Hogan from what I have sen is more of a get in behind type of striker. Dream signing for me would be angel correa at AT. Madrid. Doesnt start for them and is a bit of an aguero/tevez type. Would be perfect for us and would take us to the next level. We could probably pick him up for about £25 million too which is pretty cheap for a next level signing. Il go back to bed and keep dreaming…
Im glad Calleri is staying as cover if we dont buy another striker.If we have plans to keep Fletcher i would rather he went out on loan to a champo side & got some games under his belt.Calleri can warm the bench in the mean time.If he has to play its no drama we only need a few more points to be safe & we are going to finish in mid-table so it makes little difference.
Bilic and the board cannot win. Sign Hogan and he breaks down they are complete c**ts. Don’t sign him and he cracks away they are complete c**ts. No win situation. People said we should take a chance on Austins dodgy knee. Thank f**k we didn’t. Leave it till summer and if he’s still fit we can get him on a free because he’s proved his fitness. If he keeps breaking down then we’ve dodged a bullet.
His contract doesnt end this summer.It ends at the end of next season.He aint a freebie at the end of this season.No team would pay £15 mill for a championship player who is free in 4 months would they 😁
Yeah spot on Rads. Gives us even more time to weigh him up. By then he will be 26 getting on for 27. Worth it or not?
He will be sold to someone by the end of play tomorrow i think.Depending what you read then its either us,Palace or Villa.Villa seem to have steamed in for him if you believe the press.
I dont know,im having too much fun watching Zaza lumber around for Valencia right now 😂😂
I still think there is an outside chance that we are hoping to push a deal through for Sturridge at the 11th hour as opposed to signing Hogan and that’s why its all in limbo at the moment.
Agree with you their hammer64 would be interesting to see if we do get turned down for Sturridge how quickly a deal for Hogan would go through
Last minute Defoe transfer request?? I dont see it but the last day of the TW is crazy.
But i agree with you fellas i do believe there is something bubbling away in the striker pot right now with regards to a possible signing tomorrow.
Sadly, I think that we will come to regret this decision.
At times, it appears that Bilic is prone to reflex ‘gut-feeling’ impulses that are not always based on sound logic..
This may be another example!