West Ham’s paper thin squad – currently down to 17 – is causing ripples of alarm within the club.
As we have reported earlier Mark Noble, David Martin, Andriy Yarmlolenko, Ryan Fredericks, Alphonse Areola, Angelo Ogbonna and Alex Kral are all out of contract on 30th June leaving just 17 first time players.
Alphonse Areloa’s position is still being discussed and Oggy is set for a new contract taking the number to 19 hopefully.
Nikola Vlasic, Tomas Soucek, Arthur Masuaku, Darren Randolph and Said Benrahma could all be sold and thus far only Rennes defender Nayef Aguerd is believed to be close to agreeing a deal at the club.
The scenario is causing some nerves behind the scenes with fingers firmly crossed that David Moyes and Rob Newman will bring in at least five new faces over the next few weeks
One insider told ClaretandHugh: “As things stand it does look a bit frightening although the manager retains the club’s confidence in the summer window.”
As it stands the transfer window is not even open yet. Someone should tell the mysterious insider to chill out.
I think this person knows better than you or me
Do they know more than Moyes, though? That’s the key question.
The key ? is why we are down 17 in ANY circumstances
Clearly the jury is out on Moyes’s transfer dealings until the window shuts and so much of the talk is “smoke and mirrors” at this time of the year. This is the first major overhaul of the squad he has had to oversee so it would be the ideal time to ditch his “dithering Dave” persona and bring in players with the minimum of delay. After all, Newman has had long enough to identify players for him, particularly as nothing happened in January for reasons best known to them. It is also an opportunity to integrate the best of the Academy players into the first team squad, such as Okoflex, Ashby, Longelo and Chesters – and not forgetting Conor Coventry. Whether he plays them is another matter as, so far, Moyes shows no enthusiasm to trust youngsters while sticking with “tried and trusted” and a rigid “Plan A”. Many of the problems surrounding both Vlasic and Benrahma relate to using them out of position: they could still prove to be very effective if he played to their strengths and was more imaginative with his tactics. Let’s wait and see how the recruitment goes but, personally, one of the priorities has to be a good central striker as it is ludicrous to rely solely on Antonio for another season.
The quote from the “club source” made me laugh out loud. The manager, who the club retains confidence in, has just delivered the most exciting and most stable two seasons that our perennially-chaotic club has enjoyed in the last 30-odd years. I’m not quite sure what’s funnier: the implicit idea that there’s anybody else inside the club that is better-placed than Moyes to handle transfers, or; the idea that the club should have anything other than confidence in the man that single-handedly saved the club from yet another relegation in the 2019-2020 season.
I agree with one of the comments on another C&H story from yesterday: this stream of negativity toward Moyes is making some sections of the support look like the most vocal Spurs supporters. Let’s remember where we were 2.5 years ago before Moyes came in: we were in the same chaotic mess we’d spent the entire GSB era, and much of the previous 35 years, in.
No wonder the club retain confidence in the man.
stream???? questions I think and the jury remains out on his window work
We just have to stick with h!m and trust him to build a stronger and more consistent team ready for next time.
Moyes has achieved miracles the last two years. Has made some fantastic signings, the likes of the Czech boys, Dawson, Bowen etc. Can’t understand all the negative vibes before the window has even opened. As always I will wait until the end of the window to judge it and ten weeks into the new season before I judge the new players.
Didnt dign Tom’s. He was ready on loan or bowen. That was being done as he arrived. Zouma and dawson yes. Check his striker record. Not great
Could do with a new signing i think