West Ham believe not only that very few – if any – additions required in the winter window but that with everybody fit by summer there should be little need to strengthen then either.
For despite the current crop of injuries they continue to win matches and there is great confidence that starman Manu Lanzini will be back in action for the 2019-20 season.
The Argentine play maker is making decent progress from his cruciate injury and there remain hopes that he could even make a return before the end of the season.
However, both he and Andriy Yarmolenko are set to be ready for the new campaign in a squad which looks as strong as it has done done in many years.
Cut price late signing Carlos Sanchez is also expected to be available and with Winston Reid now running, hopes are high that the squad will be in fine fettle for next season’s campaign.
Andy Carroll’s future has of course still to be decided and although there may be a necessity to strength at left back few other additions are seen as being vital.
Meanhile Marko Arnautovic is expected to return for either the Southampton clash next Thursday or Burnley on Sunday week.
Does that mean the Declan Rice contract saga is over?
So our little run of four straight wins against the weaker teams is sufficient to warrant no activity in the transfer market . There still remains the second half of the season and the return games against not only the smaller clubs ( against whom our record doesn’t exactly shine ) but also the bigger clubs . I understand that we have a big squad and a far from envious injury list but it looks we are putting a lot of trust in the current team and injured players coming back . Just hope we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and Pelligrini can continue to get the best out of the fit players we have . Anyway ; Watford is a massive game given our league position and Wolves continued run of wins which is frustrating our climb up the table . Five out five would be fabulous.
COYHAMMERS
With Zaba effectively in his last year, we need to get another great RB in the Summer. I’m not convinced Reid is a fit with the new style and Ogbonna’s flaky so we’re not ‘allwight at the back’ as Mr Barrymore used to say.
would still like to see some players replaced with better options like shelvey for obiang or a faster, fitter and younger andy caroll repacement…and how about sessingion for masuraku…
Not strengthening in the summer would be a massive mistake. We have tried that lots of times before. Another $100 million next summer, and then repeat again the following year, is the only way to go if we are finally serious about challenging the top four. Full backs, striker, creative midfielder all needed.
Totally agree , Mikey . It would surely be daft to stop a project midway . But having said that it’s understandable if this season we settle for the players we have . It’s not beyond the imagination that we could qualify for The Europa League although that dream has been had by all the fans from time to time . Players returning from injury will dictate the need for new sighnings ,,, apart from the money issue of course . If we should qualify for Europe then some squad boosting will definitely be called for .
we can do that mikey & kevin but your season ticket has just gone up 50% unless you are in the pourpers seats cause they doubled in price then you can be like ares and the spuds and still not win anything it will take time pelle has said he is building a squad
The board will support him it also may have slipped your notice but some of our best preformers are the players that were allready here and ones that dident cost a lot
All fair points Matty. Question is are we satisfied with mid-table, or do we want to really push on and try to reach another level? Yes Snodgrass amongst existing players has done very very well. But not a top 4 player, and 32 next year. What is our ambition here? After ’86, we lacked ambition, and that didn’t work out so well. We have a chance to break the mold.
I am sure the club stockpiled some cash for Pellegrini, spent it all last summer and then some .. It can be more a case of lack of money than lack of ambition .. The club must run within it’s income or risk a Leeds situation and be out of the Premier League for 15 years .. I am not expecting Big Bucks to be spent .. We probably need to find a few value signings like Lanzini, Antonio, Sakho and Balbuena, who are out there if you can find them, but it’s not easy .. and hope another gem (or two) comes out of The Academy .. By the way, did anyone watch Dark on Netflix? .. Ive just watched it .. It’s about things that happened 33 years agio repeating .. It got me thinking .. 33 years ago we were in the middle of a 9 game winning streak .. I mentioned this to my girlfriend and she took a week to stop laughing .. 4 wins later …….
I want better than mid table Dirk but we are not a club in the position to droop 100 mill every year on players
But i do believe we can break into the top eight possibly this year and a period of stability to hold things together.You are right about 86 but we dident have a lot of ambition before either
first ambition came with the multi billionaire icelandics who dident have 3 bob in cash Gold and sully are different they have money they are good business men know football and really do love our club
I know a lot of contributers who haunt this site will disagree but the davids are the best thing that has happened to this club in my lifetime
Nothing wrong with looking ahead to next season, but there’s still more than half of this season to go. In my opinion, we ought to look to strengthen in centre midfield in January if possible. If Rice gets injured we will be really short of quality there – unless any of the other u23’s can step up. In the summer, defensively we really could do with a new left back at the very least (ones that can defend AND go forward like Zaba on the right – hope he stays for another year). Masuaku had a good game against Fulham, but he’s too inconsistent and gets caught out time after time. As for Wilshere, oh well, why are we surprised …..? Long way to go in this campaign.
Agree with the points already made, if the chairmen want to keep Pellegrini and for us to push for top European spots then they need to continue to invest £100m or so a season for a number of years, we are lacking quality in a number of positions, we certainly lack creativity and athleticism in central midfield. Noble is great at what he does but how many assists do we see from him ? We are heavilly reliant on Anderson and to a lesser degree Snodgrass to create all the chances, Arnautovic is very good but as a finisher he needs some support, Hernandez has started to look better but we could do with someone you and aggressive to play alongside him, if Carroll goes we need a top quality target man because Carroll occupies defenders and causes mayhem in the opponents penalty box although rarely fit he his World Class at what he can do, left back position needs someone with Arthurs pace or more that can defend, right back it remains to be seen if Fredericks can fill that slot regularly. Adrian may also leave at the end of the season which means we need a replacement for him also. We need a lot more strength in depth to play in two domestic cups and the Europa League and I hope the chairmen if we qualify will provide Pelle with that. I am looking forward to the Watford game at the weekend because it will be a proper test of where we are COYI !!!