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Hammers wait on Bilic’s thumbs up

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scott-hoganWest Ham are still to make a final decision on the signing of Brentford’s Scott Hogan.

Having arrived at an upfront figure of £9 million for the Bees striker, the club are edging towards a deal although his injury record remains a worry.

More importantly, however, is getting Slaven Bilic’s final approval on the 24 year old who has scored 14 goals in 26 appearances this season.

Tony Henry has regularly scouted the player and is reported keen on the player but Bilic continues to keep his options open and has yet to give the final thumbs up as other targets remain in the frame.

The manager is a big admirer of Jermain Defoe and won’t rush into any decision until he has assessed all his options.

The club would not have reached this point had Brentford stuck to their original asking price of  £15 million but have beaten the Bees down to £9 million plus extras citing his previous injury problems and knee surgery in talks.

Just as was the case with Michail Antonio, shortly after his arrival as boss, nothing can happen until the manager gives a thumbs-up or down.

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

0 comments

  • Colin Irons says:

    What is a 9m player these days johnham.Fees are so high 9m means absolutely nothing in this day & age.But i totally agree on Defoe he would be my first choice definately.

  • johnham1 says:

    Not for me, I have not seen that extra bit of quality to suggest he is a 9m player. Save your money and sign Defoe.

  • bubs says:

    Agree and Martinez who is scoring for fun in the under 23
    Groom both now and Browne,
    With Ayew coming back we only need Bambi to stay fit and Slav can spend his time getting the right player this summer,
    No more foreign out casts or overrated second rate cheap buys,
    If we need a cheap stop gap pay out for Defoe forget sell on
    Secure our premier position and play the youngsters looking to next year,
    Bring in Samulsun,Fletcher,Martinez,Oxford,Burke,Cullen and Quina if they can’t cut it sell them
    We need a Claret and Blue backbone

  • Colin Irons says:

    Get the kid in the door.He is a very good player.Makes some excellant runs & has some top movement.He really is not that much of a risk at 9 million with add ons.
    He is also a very calm natural finisher.
    Having watched both this kid at Brentford & Fletcher im sorry but Fletch isnt in the same league as a forward no matter how much we want to believe he is going to become something.

  • TRB says:

    If you put Ashley Fletcher in Brentford’s first team, I reckon he’d do as well as Scott Hogan. I’d rather West Ham spent £15m elsewhere and used Fletcher more often. He’s a better prospect than Hogan – and far less injury prone. .

  • Hammer64 says:

    Well if he wasn’t an injury liability he would hardly fit in. What would the others talk to him about ha ha.

  • slaven a laugh says:

    only three of our our more recent strikers have scored enough goals to take them into double figures – Carroll Sakho and Valencia so this guy hogan couldn’t do much worse than the other hundred or more strikers signed by Sullivan / gold that didn’t make it into double figures – or any figures if zaza and co are anything to go by.

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