By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
With Axel Disasi close to completing a move from Chelsea to a Premier League club, West Ham will have to cast their attentions elsewhere in the search for a central defender.
Much like in the winter transfer window, head coach Nuno Espírito Santo has spent most of the summer waiting for Disasi to decide he really did want to join the Hammers.
Indeed, only a few weeks ago Disasi remained very much Nuno’s top defensive transfer choice, despite the Frenchman appearing reluctant to drop into the Championship.
As a result, other central defensive targets have been placed on the back burner, leaving West Ham having to make up ground very quickly to find a replacement for the Frenchman, who left following his loan stint at the end of last season.
Nuno’s Disasi gamble hasn’t paid off
I wouldn’t so much say it was a case of all our eggs being in one basket with Nils Koppen’s recruitment strategy in this window, but that has certainly been the case with Nuno and Disasi.
The warning signs were there earlier in the summer when West Ham’s pursuit of Disasi was identified as one of the club’s biggest transfer challenges, with the defender seemingly prepared to wait for Premier League interest.
Nuno clearly believed patience would eventually pay off, just as it did in January when Disasi initially rejected West Ham before finally arriving on deadline day.
This time, however, it appears the gamble has backfired.
Disasi was integral to West Ham’s defensive improvement last season, and replacing him will become even more important should further defenders leave the club.
Did Nuno spend too long chasing Disasi?
West Ham exit door could get very busy
In the video below, I discuss the ramifications of the Disasi snub and what it means for Nuno’s defensive plans.
We’ll also take a look at reports this morning that both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf could be heading for the very busy exit door later this week.
Wan-Bissaka has been linked with a move away from West Ham throughout the summer, while Diouf’s future has become an increasingly significant issue.
Nuno’s position on the Senegalese defender was certainly clear earlier in the window. Claret & Hugh were told directly that the head coach wanted to keep Diouf and wasn’t looking for another left-back.
Clearly, the situation surrounding the 21-year-old has moved on considerably since then.
Losing either full-back would create another position requiring immediate attention. Losing both, having already missed out on Disasi, would leave West Ham facing a significant defensive rebuild when the Championship season is already under way.
Nuno waited a long time for Disasi.
Now West Ham may have to move considerably faster to replace him.
This rumour has only come from one source, not heard it anywhere else. If an agreement has been reached between the player and the club why aren’t we hearing about it?
getvipoynikfrpomswansea 30goal man
I won’t blame Nuno for waiting for Disasi if he thought there was a chance. Disasi would have been exceptional in this league, and at a relatively bargain price.
Anyway, the club must have a number of CB alternatives given that Todibo was always going to be off as well.
Let’s wait and see what happens.
It’s not just one CB we want…it’s two, plus a RB & LB. Let’s get real, if we don’t, we will get nowhere near the top eight. We will be nearer Div One…specifically if Sunday was anything to go by.
Not another Nuno master class! Desai was never in a million years joining us! He didn’t want come last year, so he has shown his true colours! Really, really poor philosophy around our defence and wouldn’t surprise me Dino says to his agent get me out of here. So many at fault here. But hey ho, supposedly we are being run like a proper club. Do me a favour, money , money, money. It’s v2.0COYIs
Charlie Cresswell, why did we not buy him last year? Get him in now.
Disasi has always been a fair gamble, with the 2 rounds if the EFL cup and 9 points at risk
As one of you have said, the Premiership doesnt start until this coming weekend, when those clubs will have decided who they want in their squads
No Disasi will equal a discarded Premier league player on loan and to me that was a gamble worth taking
Regardless of who leaves (and I’d vote for Nuno being the top of that list) our squad will he filled out by the time Wolves come to London
For now I am excited to be going to see what Engels can do this weekend — COYI
What about Dylan Lawlor what happened regarding potential buy. He sounded decent.
I don’t have any faith that our transfer policy has changed even though who we have bought so far seem decent. But we are selling far more than we currently have and that was from a small squad.
Believe he has been out injured all pre-season…
It’s not a Disasi snub if he goes to a prem club, he was open and said that was his preference, most likely it will be Palace or maybe Fulham which if so also would mean he wouldn’t need to relocate.
AWB was going anyway because like many he fell out with Nuno, Diouf at £40m is good business and if our model is Red Bull like then Summerville, Fernandes and Diouf are doing their bit, what we should have is a pipeline of options which we don’t appear too.. more of a Red Bull and Vodka approach with us stumbling around incoherently.
If ever there was evidence we need Staveley involved it couldn’t be much starker than now.
Be careful what you wish for she left them having vastly overspent and them then having to sell to be PSR compliant. She also liquidated a company to avoid paying £650k that was owed to Newcastle; she is no shining knight in armour.
I don’t think any of the owners care about this club and what division it’s in. All they care about is getting their grubby hands on the land the stadium is on. Since the attempted hostile takeover nothing has been done for the club.
If we’d bought it instead of leasing it I think things would be different nowadays
Veltman had to be a better option than Kilman didn’t he ?
It was always on the cards soon as a premier leaque side entered the picture to sign him he would jump at the chance with his quality it was only a mater of time before it came to pass now the manager needs to pull his finger out along with the board and bring in some other defenders or we will strugle to even stay in the championship never minf get stright back up to the premiership.time to put words into action
We alledgedly set aside £25m for that deal and if AWB and Diouf go there will be a further £50m to £60m coming in. Weren’t AZ demanding £30m for Parrott but we thought it was too much? Time to stop the mucking about and get some deals done. Todibo and Alvarez also likely to leave so no excuses now.
It makes Nuno’s statement that we are ok defensively and are concentrating on attacking additions even more worrying if two full backs are leaving and a central defender has snubbed us
This was always the risk when we agreed to wait while he assessed his options. Once a PL club showed interest, he was not coming to us. Let’s see now how quickly the club sorts this mess out.
Gonzo Honesly way things stand we will not finish in the top 8 Our defence is what was so poor last year and now we are playing the same players who took us so low over the 2 years This is not funny anymore Seems our Cech mate is not what we expected of him
I’m disappointed we haven’t been linked this window to either Charlie Cresswell or Harwood-Bellis. Both would be obtainable and cost similar to Disasi (and no doubt less salary). Any idea if these guys are being considered still Gonzo?
Agreed.These are the two i would like to see at West Ham.
Are there 2 Jimbo’s here? Luckily I agree with you.
has he snubbed us then Kris ? who has he joined ? ? x
Palace was after him