Still long after the transfer window has closed, West Ham are still being linked with some ‘Champions League Winner’ or ’20 Goal Striker’ or some such player out of contract and available on a free transfer. If you’ve a long enough memory you may recall that I was fairly downbeat some weeks ago about the prospect of The Hammers’ actually bringing in another signing on a Bosman ruling and that we’d have to ‘struggle on’ with the pretty decent resources we now have at London stadium.
I see the rumours are still doing the rounds, and I know they appear on C and H as well as other sites. We face a bit of a dilemma, ignore the rumours and look out of touch, or report the stories and let you decide fact from fiction.
I’d stick my neck out and tell you now that there is not the financial leeway to support another players’ wages under FFP rules. Yes there will be enticing headlines, rumours, but from the picture I’ve built up since before the transfer window and comments made from various sources at the club and (some) in-the-know journos, I’d suggest you ignore those stories of another centre back joining us on a ‘free’ this Autumn.
You might remember that I’d pointed out in an earlier article on 7th September that Edson Alvarez is fairly well experienced as a centre-back: over 80 games in that position means he’s hardly a makeshift option and with all the midfield talent still at the club I’d suggest we could easily cope were El Machin to revert to a run as a centre-back.
So whilst you may still see ‘reports’ of The Hammers being linked with ex PL centre backs or out of contract defenders- they all demand huge wages and I’m sure we don’t have the leeway to take anyone else on this side of the January window.
Who we have, is who we use, Hammers.
It’s one thing if ALVAREZ picks up a string of yellow cards in midfield , but something else if he takes the practice into the penalty area ! we would all have chewed our nails down to the quicks well before the end of every game!!