16 Comments

Bilic plays it cagey on £12m striker

scott-hoganSlaven Bilic has still not given the green light to the board for the signing of Brentford’s Scott Hogan.

The player has been regularly checked by recruitment director to the board Tony Henry but the manager needs to give the final approval and that still hasn’t happened.

Indeed CandH insiders are insisting that no deal has been agreed with the Bees at this stage despite reports of a £12 million agreement.

There have been talks and it could still happen but at this stage no final agreement is on the table and Bilic is continuing to take his time.

The manager has long insisted – even in the dark days – that he is happy with his squad and it was only Angelo Ognonna’s need for surgery that prompted the move for Jose Fonte.

There’s a belief that with Andy Carroll fit and firing he may be sweating on an earlier than expected return to action from Diafra Sakho.

The Senegal striker is making decent progress and there is an optimistic view held by some that he could be back towards the back end of February.

We were told that Slaven is expected to give a final decision on Hogan over the next couple of days but has given “no real indication of his final feelings at this stage.”

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

16 comments on “Bilic plays it cagey on £12m striker

  1. Wouldn’t it be an idea to get the manager’s approval before you start negotiations.

  2. If that’s all true, why have we already made 3 bids for him? That makes no sense.

  3. Me meself i reckons they are getting these deals in place but still holding out for other players to maybe become available.Defoe deal was ment to be dead but who knows what migt happen in the last week
    Dont see it meself that they have all eggs in one basket.There are ment to be a few clubs bid for Hogs probs just staying in pole position.

  4. Come to think about it who says we have officially put in three bids any.The newspapers

  5. I have a feeling Slaven doesn’t want Hogan. Anything between £12/15M is a massive risk and I suspect Slaven would rather put that towards his man in the summer. I think he believes Carroll and Antonio can do the job with Callari and Ayew providing back up and then Sakho coming back at sometime. Fletcher seems to have been forgotten.

    I have got to say I do agree with him. That’s not bad striking power there and £12/15M on a championship striker with a dodgy knee is a massive gamble.

  6. Talking of Calari I do think he will come good. I thought his 30 mins vrs Boro was pretty good. He worked very hard and made plenty of runs and was always available. People see him miss chances like vrs Bournemouth and people even say his shot yesterday was going off target (it weren’t imo) but we all know he can put them away as we have seen him so that regular in South America and standing 6 yards out on goal is no different in the Premiership than it is in South America. I reckon he needs a run and his confidence will pick up. Mind you he needs to do that this season as I’m not sure the club will spend £10M on him.

  7. We really dont have a clue what is going on do we.Its good fun second guessing or summising but we havnt got a clue what has been bid,how many bids,who rates him within the club,who doesnt.
    Its easier to wait & see if he signs or not.All the rest is just bull**** Lol

  8. Lmao Colin. See what I did there. I decided in my own mind what Slaven was thinking and then decided that I agree with him! I’m ahead of the game here.

  9. Hahaha well done John keep up the good work.Once you have perfected it we can ask you what Slaven will say in his press conferences before he has even got there Lol

  10. Rather funny what Garth Crooks said when including Carroll in his team for the week..

    Crisis, what crisis? I said last week if Andy Carroll can stay fit between now and the end of the season, Dimitri Payet can take a running jump. In fact, I will drive him to Marseille myself.

  11. I feel a little uncomfortable agreeing with anything that Gareth Crooks says but here goes…. yeah good one Garth!

    Anyhow there’s a new petition being started to move the John Lyall gates. Apparently the club couldn’t even get that right putting them in the club shop when they should have put them in the middle of the concourse so people have to walk around them. I’m in. Anything to give the board more grief.

    • Some fans would start petitions against petitions if they could.Moaning is their default setting.If they moaned about one or two things then thats understandable but they do about everything.

  12. Ayew will come good,Martinez is going ballistic in the next generation and maybe worth a go,
    Fletcher needs a few runs to see if he will make it we are 12 points short of safety do we need to gamble ?
    I would keep our money for summer build a close knit team with who we have,
    Bring in Oxford,Burke,Samulsun,Cullen,Pike,Quina,Fletcher and Martinez over the rest of the season and pre season,
    Maybe buy another defender if the boys are not going to make it for next year,
    This summer go and get a real British forward what ever the cost toads to Carroll
    In a very hard year Slav has proved the man again
    In Slav we trust no more rush buys

  13. According to reports Watford have had a bid accepted for him also which is superior to ours, other reports mention that if Brentford sell him he gets £750k but they want him to hand in a transfer request, who knows what’s true ?

Comments are closed.