Graham Potter and Kyle Macaulay have finally got down to business with the ‘first’ transfer window open. Most business will be done after 15th June when the full ‘summer season’ gets under way but early signs linking the Hammers with strikers are emerging. Several have faded including the now less likely interest in Baris Alper Yilmaz.
Of course, West Ham do need to sell to buy so the recurring stories linking Chelsea with Mohammed Kudus and now Nayef Aguerd with Marseille will at least give some comfort that there will be a transfer kitty.
From todays dailymail.co.uk comes more good news: It seems the price required to land top young striker target Lucas Stassin is a very West Ham -friendly level:
“Recent links to 20-year-old Belgian striker Lucas Stassin at Saint-Etienne make sense. It’s a position West Ham need to strengthen, he fits the profile, has superb stats among strikers under the age of 21 in Europe’s top leagues and the French club are likely to accept a cut price of £18m following their relegation to Ligue 2.”
Eighteen million puts Stassin at around the same level likely to be received for Aguerd after agent costs and fees: For a 12 goals in 28 games young forward that is pretty good money, with the chance that West Ham could find themselves with a fast appreciating asset over the next three years if he can repeat his success in the Premier League.
There’s no urgency in this window and it appears that the Macaulay model of buying players with future potential is going to fail, because the chairman is not fully on board with this new way of working in the transfer window.
Considering such a strategy calls for quick decisions before a rival can move in on any potential deal at a moments notice, then it’s not a good look with the chairman on holiday not totally focused on the task in hand.
It would appear that Potter’s rebuild and Macaulay’s data led approach is being undermined, possibly deliberately to say that he tried to implement a new system and it didn’t work. Just like the Steidten model was deliberately set up to fail.
Selling a player before we can buy is a way of scuppering the entire rebuild of the team and the model in which Macaulay wants to implement. The chairman knows full well that he doesn’t need to do do this and could easily sell players after he’s bought some of the targets that have been identified by the club. This speaks volumes of the true motivations of the ambitions of the majority shareholder of this once family club.
Well put (Love your name btw)
I can’t believe the other board members are not placing pressure on Sully the sailor to sell or implement a professional system into his club.
This may have worked in the 70’s & 80’s but not 30 years afterwards.
amYou make it sound so easy you melt! Just take the summer off, we all have access to the sites and your so valled insiders!! Just a complete wast of time these articles vaery very rare does anything come of any of it and its all out in the public domain!
Why are we continually being told we need to sell before we buy it’s rubbish. Sulivan just doesn’t want to put his hand in his pocket……..
We don’t need to sell before we can buy. Sullivan just doesn’t want to put his own money in. Pushing his lies doesn’t help the club.
Same old story with Sullivan in charge this so called rebuild with young talent is just a story Sullivan tells us we tried to get this player and that player it’s a absolute nonsense he has no intention of paying for the players we need and want to give potter a fighting chance next season we could end up with no manager if Sullivan doesn’t change his attitude because potter will walk he’s not going to stick around to be the fall guy the sooner Sullivan and co sell the club the better off we will be
lets hope potter has enough too get him through the door I personally wouldn’t clean his shoes even for a footballers wages