This story keeps coming in and out of the news as conflicting reports come in: Officially, West Ham United’s business is 90% done in this window apart from now the task of organising and orchestrating player departures as fringe or ‘no longer needed’ players are sold loaned or ‘just let go’.
However I try to believe this, hints and comments from other sources seem to suggest more business might be happening out of the public eye: This year the Hammers have been brilliant at keeping rumours away from the spotlight until players arrive for medicals: Guido Rodriguez being the case in point of a player who was progressed in total ‘radio silence’ lest another club tried to steal the Argentinian at the 11th hour.
Similarly Tim Steidten disappeared in the executive jet to steal Jean Clair Todibo at the last minute to hijack the deal put together with Juve – so I am naturally politely cynical of any assurance that The Hammers have ‘done’ with recruitment.
So, (even though he got it wrong on AWB) – when In The Know Journalist Fabrizio Romano is quoted in Give me Sport on the subject of Carlos Soler, one of the ‘possibles’ I have been tracking for a while, then I certainly read, digest and report:
Available from Paris Saint-Germain for a ‘mere’ £17 million, Soler would be a brilliant and not-too-costly addition to West Ham’s midfield, as described in yesterdays Claret and Hugh.
Romano is quoted today as saying, about Soler, that he: “Is a concrete option for West Ham. It’s true, he’s one of the names they have on their shortlist. And now, obviously they will also need to assess all the possibilities and consider all the options. They’ve been fantastic in the summer transfer window. Wan-Bissaka was also a tough one, not an easy deal. They’ve been able to get it done on player and club side, and it was a complicated negotiation. Todibo was a crazy saga. So they’ve been putting a lot of efforts into bringing in these new players in recent weeks. Now they are considering Carlos Soler, it’s true, it’s a possibility. I think he could probably be the next one.”
I hope he’s right. Under the radar? Quite possibly.
Steidten has worked wonders, probably more wondrous than we know. Just how many feathers in his cap now.
He is meant to be on a decent wage (around 80k a week) which suggests we would need an outgoing. The negative here is that if this signing happens it might be an indication that the club is far from sure that Paqueta isn’t going to get some form of ban and therefore see him as the replacement. 80k a week would be a lot of money to sit on the bench. The other argument might be that he’s the Paqueta replacement if and when someone is confident enough to come for the Brazilian, but I’d bet on my first option.
I think a lot of the players will have bench time this season…with better players comes better options so i think there will be good rotation throughout the season and because of that less chance of injuries from overworked players
He is a different option to Paqueta Dudley and you are right he and Paqueta would often fill the same number 10 role, I guess that is why we are also after Fofana again a different type of number 8 which is an alternative use for Paqueta, am wondering if it is just that he wants different ways to play against different opponents. Under Moyes we often struggled to win games we should have won easily because we weren’t aggressive and didn’t score enough to put them to bed, this guy scores one every 6 games and takes up great positions to score goals. Different to who we have presently so might unlock some of those defences that are tough to crack when the opponent sits in ?
Interested to know how Romano got it wrong with AWB. Is this because you are claiming that AWB had not signed the contract when FR said he had? I still believe he had signed the contract as he gets nearly everything spot on. Maybe you should let us all know the things C and H have got wrong over the last few months as you link us with about a dozen players every day.
My thoughts exactly.
Another midfielder? This potential signing would surely mean that two or three of Cornet, Soucek and JWP could leave.
This is an interesting one, it doesn’t make a lot sense in some way but does in others.
I would love Fofana who I believe is box to box.
Let’s see how Tim plays this one