A picture paints a thousand words, apparently. So this tweet from @livescore
sums it up fairly well:
It has been a brutal week for West Ham fans, management, and no doubt owners alike.
Rejections and failed bids must sting—how many “resets” on new targets does it take before the coach, management, and owners start to lose patience with each other?
But wait, there’s more:
A story circulating in the last few hours has made my brow furrow even more: Claims surfaced today that Newcastle had ‘outbid’ West Ham for Jhon Duran. Despite my own research, web-crawling, and trawling, I have only found one source for this claim, so I’m not going to give it the oxygen of publicity until I can corroborate it.
Please bear in mind that other sites and journalists are claiming exactly the opposite: That West Ham have already reverted to an ‘increased’ cash bid instead of the unpopular Lewis Orford part-exchange option.
I have a hunch that the loss of the Mazraoui deal will actually serve as a catalyst for the Hammers’ owners to get off the fence and finalise the Duran deal.
All is fair in the cut and thrust of ‘The Transfer Window,’ but West Ham are acting without the pull of European football and will struggle to match top-six clubs at present, as we are finding out repeatedly.
That is why I don’t believe this rumour of Duran going to another Premier League club with no European football next year. He’d become our ‘main man’ at London Stadium, stepping into Antonio’s boots instead of being ‘second fiddle’ at the aforementioned Magpies.
Reasons to be optimistic
While we as Hammers fans lament missed opportunities and players slipping through our fingers, it’s important to see how other clubs and their supporters view events at London Stadium. From the ‘outside looking in,’ there is much cause for optimism:
“West Ham—another rising rival to Chelsea: West Ham’s sporting director is building a really impressive team, and with a quality coach in place, they will be a side to watch out for this season, especially if they get these two deals over the line. (Duran and Crysencio Summerville—MT) We’ve already got so many teams to worry about in the race for the top four—things could get even harder now.” This, by the way, was from lunchtime’s CFC fan site Chelsea News.
So, no despairing just yet. I suspect the whole ‘Jhon Duran to another club’ thing is a big invention to try and move the story (or the negotiations) on, which has little fact to report just now. So I’m going to stay in denial, being an optimist in a Claret and Blue shirt, waiting for tweets over the weekend from Fabrizio Romano and the rest, confirming Jhon Duran is a Hammer.
‘An optimist in a Claret and Blue shirt.’ There aren’t many of us.
I just hope I don’t end up looking like one of those sad, forgotten old dogs who sits by the side of the road and waits for years for its master to return, in denial but faithfully clinging to forlorn hope.
Appreciate everyone with a website is trying to make a living but surely there is a profitable place for the website that cuts through the bs, clickbait & unsubstatiated claims. Pls be that site as I am so bored of gossip. I hope you will see this as constructive as I see you have potential to be so much better. Credible sourcing is the key – If its bs gossip for the sake of it dont bother.
Absolutely agree with you Hammer61,
Quality…not quantity!!!!!
Looks like I’m about to be proved right, I stated after the 3 signings we had made that that was it, and not to expect any more, sullivan as we all know is ebeneeezer in disguise if he truly has ambition then surely those 5 so called other transfers would be in place already, as per the reports that we would be getting all transfer business done early 2 weeks to go and no more exactly as I predicted, and now my latest prediction lopetugui will walk away 2 months into the new season after the false promises. Can’t wait to say told you so. Sullivan talks the talk but unfortunately he don’t walk the walk.
I make you right , I could never ever see 8 signings, even including free transfers, not from Sullivan, no way & get off to a bad start , I can see the new manager walking. I couldn’t blame him, he takes over left with squad of 18 & a load of rubbish to sell to raise funds NO ONE WANTS THEM.
Holy 💩 – there’s a lot of frustration bubbling, the hormones are raging! Calm t f down.
It was not long ago we had yet another Moyes transfer window with noone signed at this stage and noone signed at the end of it either. Followed by the regular ” a small squad is better” nonsense. It’s better than it was at least and serious work obviously going on.
This is the type of article i think we all want to read, Martin; not clickbait but a well written, considered piece. Hopefully more like this are to come but for now thank you.
‘so I’m not going to give it the oxygen of publicity’
Which you did by posting it
Duran deal surely must be close to completion. Villa have given his number 24 shirt to Onana so he’s going, whoever, wherever
I don’t believe we will get either over the line Duran is unproven, Summerville would be great, Sully is playing games as usual, vindicates giving up my season ticket, we have tin pot owners lacking ambition.
Centre forward is a KEY signing and TS is making a huge effort. Duran is to me the obvious choice. Let’s not be too negative players are sometimes quite fickle and frequently their agents are working for the fee not the player. Lots of dud players thinking they are way above their actual station and failing.
We need patience..its a tough world out there.
Duran, Summerville in the next few days and we are on our way..
Jhon Duran £30 mill + ur royalty getting shafted he has the talent definitely, but his attitude 🙈reminds me of a certain Mario ballatelli why do u think emery is shipping him out good luck hammers utv
Good summary Martin, brutal week is about right! Two underwhelming friendly matches and dismal transfer business but hopefully Lewis Orford’s sale as part of the Duran deal has been parked. Time to regroup and see if a mutually agreeable figure can be arranged for a talented 20 year old with a lot of potential, sell on percentage must surely be a factor, if not let’s move on. Two tour matches in the US will certainly show any weaknesses and where our most immediate shortcomings are but with the opening Villa match fast approaching we’re nowhere knowing what our best starting 11 is. The last transfer window was bad enough but this seems to be heading the same way. A bad start will soon take a toll on confidence, spirit and aspiration so let’s hope new management gets it right.
Stay optimistic.. I have a hunch !!!
This biggest problem, apart from our owner, is that all this swirls around the interweb and gets repeated on here and everywhere else so is always a cause of discontent.
What makes it worse is this site and others with ‘inside’ information either being supplied by our cretinous owner or big mouths within the club who don’t know everything and are being supplied with rubbish, so being used to feed you cr*p. The most accurate of all is ExWHUemployee and he’s damn good at it without all the nonsense headlines, but I really would rather not know. And no, I don’t subscribe to any Patreon.
The owner’s agenda is the ‘we tried’ bollox or wanting the gullible to think we are seriously going for his idea of ‘big names’ (much like the leaking of the fake Rubin Amorin interview) or being ‘honored’ that big clubs like Bayern or ManU are willing to do business with us. The big clubs only sell what they are desperate to offload and fans should know that.
I know we’re stuck with it, but if those with loose lips within the club didn’t squeal we’d all be none the wiser preventing me and everyone else fearing the worst. We all know our owner is terrible to deal with and no club has a good word to say about him. But I’d rather not even know that, and signings when the deals are signed and sealed.
I miss the old days of the surprise signing appearing in club colors on the pitch.
NOT having a go at you.
Understood and thank you for the tone. I both sense, and share, your frustration!
Time for Sullivan to finaly get his wallet out and get Duran before we lose another player to another club
The Villa valuation is top dollar, I fully expect fulsome negotiations.
Not surprised at all but essentially the main ingredients of a deal are there, if a price could be arranged between the clubs then it looks on.
Duran wouldn’t be any happier on the bench behind Isak than Watkins, so even if the bid has been made I don’t give it much credence personally. And Sorloth doesn’t seem a credible alternative to me.A 28 year old is a write off waiting to happen, but a 20 year old is an asset. Just get the deal over the line and then focus on other positions. Nobes, the circus is back!