West Ham have submitted a bid for Bursaspor defender Serdar Aziz according to reports in Turkey. Turkish media agency DHA report that West Ham have made an offer believed to be around $8m for the Turkish international defender and are waiting for a response.
Slaven Bilic knows Aziz well from his time at Besiktas. The Hammers boss attempted to sign the 25-year-old during his time in charge of the Istanbul giants but failed to secure a deal.
Aziz has another two-years remaining on his contract and has only played for Bursaspor having risen through the youth academy system at the club. The experienced defender has nine international caps and is expected to be selected as first-choice centre back for Turkey in the European Championships this summer.
Aziz is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the Turkish league and has made the second highest number of interceptions per-game this season.
Imho I think all in all Reid has had a disappointing season.Having said that though he has been injured quite a bit so hasn’t been able to get a good run of games.I will leave it to Slav,he was a central defender,I’m thinking maybe he knows a tiny bit about playing that position & who he thinks is doing well there.Though I’m sure there are a few fans who know better than him & can maybe advice him if needed haha
Your logic can’t be faulted bubs IMHO… I like Benatia and Manolas, they are strong and fast, but unfortunately they aren’t really cheap. 😉
He has also had some stinkers,I did rate him in fact at the beginning of the Season he was my choice for Captain,
But
We are now a top 6 club and a few players short of the top 4,He and Tomo who I also wanted at right back before the useless Gooner,
Just can’t think it will happen,when Antonio was aught out in the last game he could not cover and yes he got the winner but in tight games he Tomo and Ginge seem to make one to many mistakes,
We need a defender that can handle Luluka or the likes or we will be going back down to the middle ground ,
Swansea just about showed us how weak we are at the back,
But finding better Central defenders this summer will be hard as Manure,City,Chelski,Gooners and Liverpoor plus some top European teams need these players as they all have poor defensive players
He hasn’t been at his best in every game, I agree but he hasn’t had the most consistent year with all the injuries. I think he will be important for us to push on as he can deliver against top sides. We have been conceding too many certainly and whilst it has been exciting to watch it is something that needs to change for us to make top four. But I think that needs to be addressed with a better right back and use of Obiang to just sit and break up attacks when we are in a winning position. The games against Man U and Swansea showed just how vulnerable we are to the counter. Hopefully a better striker means we convert more chances and so it’s not so much of an issue.
Can’t comment on the player I don’t know him,but every country has good players and Slav is not going to bring in someone he thinks is not good enough,
Ogbonna look a bit iffy when he arrived how wrong most were,he has developed into our best defensive defender and is very comfortable on the ball and we will have other clubs knocking on our door asking if he is for sale,
With the talent we have in midfield I wonder if Slav had a word with Kouyate maybe he would be a better partner to Ogbonna Tackles well comfortable on the ball good in the air,
That would free up the position for Obiang or Norveld
Why don’t you rate Reid, Bubs? When he is fit and on form he is top quality. He has had some great games this season, like the win over city at the Etihad. Kouyate is best in midfield for me. Playing him in defence wouldnt make the best of his talents going forward in my opinion.
Whys it a joke IronHam.Not every player needs to cost £25million or come from one of the big footballing nations to be accepted as a talented player.There are many very good Turkish players.Did you feel the same when we paid £7m for Antonio because he was only a Championship player or Kouyate because he came from Belgium & was little known here.Bilic has played the market with great success.Hasn’t broken the bank but in the main all his signings have come good.Before anyone tells me Kouyate wasn’t his signing I know that he was just an example of players that are value for money coming from one of the so called lesser leagues.
Rick, I’m not pretending to know everything. I’m just saying that Turk league is completely different to EPL with different mentality and attitude. We have two examples in Antonio and Emenike. As it was mentioned above Emenikes club wants 7mil for him, the price we’ve paid for Antonio. But can you really compare these players? Now theyre asking 7-8 mil for CB. In my opinion its a joke and we d better scout Championship and lesser leagues closely for young prospect. And develop our acadmy players. Look at those 20-30 mil defenders at ‘top’ clubs. Are they really so good? Before you answer you should consider the fact that those guys usually have to defend against lesser opposition which produce 2-3 attacks per game. On the other hand our defence have to deal with agueros and martials, while midtable clubs do not park the bus vs us either.
I was impressed by Emenike’s body language and attitude. He must have known fairly early his chances of landing a permanent deal were slim, yet whenever he played he put in a proper shift for the team and I’ve never heard him say a bad word about West Ham, the contrary in fact.
If Fenerbahce’s asking price wasn’t north of 8 million I’d like to see him staying.
I am shocked we still havnt got a Turk playing in our team already.I was convinced by now we would have at least one.
I ain’t got anything against Emineke,he was only a 4th choice when he came to us.I didn’t expect him to blow the Premier apart.I had little expectations from him.I think some of the comments about him are total bolloxs actually if you consider he was signed as nothing more than a short term squad player.Unless he scored 10 in 10 matches I don’t think we had much intention of signing him long-term anyway 🙂
This was always likely to happen considering Bilic’s experience with Turkish football.
I’d trust him not to go after a player who isn’t up for the task.
If Bilic wants a Turkish player he should be able to do a job.
And before anyone comes now pointing towards the Emenike move, well, he came as a reasonably cheap loan signing and was signed as a direct Jelavic replacement as 4th striker and in that respect in my view he has been value for money, despite not scoring for us in the league.
Really IronHammer,tell me more.You know this player?
I know the level of Turkish champ. I’ve been monitoring it closely for sometime. And all those stats are nonsense. Another point why I’ve called that a joke – the fact that we have Tomkins and Collins on the bench. Who are by far better defenders than 20-30 mil signings by ‘top’ teams. We ve been one of the best teams in the league defensively under BFS with the players we have already so I don’t think our current problems have something to do with players. Under allardyce we’ve been constantly bombarded by opposition yet managing to keep clean sheets again and again. You can argue and say Slav know Turkish league better, and you will be right, but we have an example in Emenike.. Which raises reasonable doubts. Here are few key moments why I’ve called that transfer rumour o joke. COYI
What current problems? We’re on 62 points, 6th in the league, scored a shed load of goals and had a smile on our mugs most of the season. Maybe I’m one of those deluded ones that prefer a 4-2 win and some entertainment than wasting £50+ to go and bend over at the Etihad with a manager hoping for a 0-0 and walking away with a 6-0 hiding lol.
Our current position is so high mostly because of great results vs TOP clubs. And if i remember right we’ve had to defend well in those victories. And we did. With ginge in the middle and Tomkins at rb. Now we concede 4 at home vs swansea. Compare that to clean sheets at anfield and emirates and maybe youll see some problem. The fact that we are scouting for a new CB shows some concern from our managers. But im not sure its right solution.
Iron was at both and agree but we defended from the front not just the back with Sacko on the pitch not AC..
Dont get me wrong. Im happy hammer and not being nostalgic bout bfs era. Im just saying we have the tools to set up our defence properly. And dont need to gamble.
Lucky you! 😉 watching the Anfield hoodoo being lifted!
It was ****ing outstanding and made up for the trips to Forrest, WBA and Man City when I’d felt like leaping of a tall building or putting a hit out on the slug lol
Fair enough Iron Hammer,no problems.I wasn’t sure if you knew him that was all when you said it was a joke.I thought you might have seen him.No worries mate 🙂
taking a punt from the picture it looks like the dude might be left footed and thus more likely a left sided CB if thats the case I would think that is the position we need strengthening the least with both Reid and Ogbonna as very able first choices, we could upgrade the right centre back position with a better passing more athletic version i.e. someone like Lamina Kone, agree with you Ironhammer that with Collins at RB and also Ginge at CB we are a defensively solid unit as regards to defending front to back I would say the weak part is that all the midfielders want to break forward and are all excellent in that regard but what we have been missing since losing Alex Song is a player that plays in a crab like way i.e. side to side behind the more offensive midfielders and has the discipline not to break beyond them, if you look at our shape quite often you will see Kouyate break beyond Noble which leaves this big void in front of the back 4 for opponents to exploit, we were lucky Utd were so poor at using it but it was there very often, normally Fellaini would have been occupying that area and would have proved a good link between attack and defence for them but it is also the space, the Cazorla’s, Ozil’s, Silva’s etc roam around in, it is something that must be addressed, if we had to pay 20 mill for Kante he would be worth at least 15 points a season to us, I would prioritise it as even more important than a striker for us, can you imagine Kante and Kouyate playing together we would have real bite in the midfield and a proper backbone, would be not dissimilar to having a Petit and Viera midfield, we would be very tough to breakdown and less susceptible to fast counter attacks or the clever interplays of better quality opponents.
8 mil for a CB from Turkey? what a joke..