The Glasgow Rangers connection at West Ham United keeps growing.
With an ex-Rangers triumvirate now occupying key executive positions, the Hammers now boast head of recruitment Nils Koppen (former technical director at Ibrox), Acting CEO Karim Virani (Ex ‘Gers chief commercial officer) and newly appointed CFO James Taylor (Formerly CFO at Ibrox).
The welcome stability provided from a trio of summer appointments comes after the chaos of Sullivan and Brady’s departure and should hopefully be a big step in setting West Ham back on an even keel after mammoth losses and some pretty poor executive decisions last year.
The trio obviously know each other well – but it seems the Rangers links might not be over just yet as Nils Koppen is reported to be planning a further raid north of the border for another midfield talent- following the successful recruitment of Celtic’s Arne Engels.
According to several reports, the Hammers are considering a move for midfielder Connor Barron:
“Rangers midfielder Connor Barron could be on his way to West Ham after backroom development at London Stadium – (Rangersnews.uk)
West Ham need a defensive midfielder – could Connor Barron be their next target?
Predominantly a defensive midfielder, Barron can’t get into the starting XI at Ibrox, according to the fan site, which claims:
“Connor Barron’s days as a Rangers player appear to be numbered, as Derek McInnes [Manager] does not seem to rate the midfielder that highly. Despite struggles in the middle of the park and the constant chopping and changing of midfielders, McInnes has not given the Scotsman a go in the team this season.
The 23-year-old has played a grand total of zero minutes in four matches despite being a part of the matchday squad”.
Whether this is simply a ‘suggestion’ owing to the players’ availability and West Ham’s preponderance of Rangers expertise- who can say: Whilst links persist over Edson Alvarez’ impending departure, the Hammers could certainly be in the market place for a defensive midfielder having already sold Freddie Potts and with Soungoutou Magassa linked with above back to France.
A host of other sites have reported West Ham’s interest in Barron, also sought by Sevilla, so there may be more than just idle speculation to the story. It is also worth noting that this is not a new ‘link’, Barron originally having been touted as a Hammers target at the start of the window.
I don’t get McInnes without doubt Barron is one of our best midfielders all day long and just needs a few games under his belt for fitness after injury ! Could come back and bite McInnes!
Player who can play left, right, mid with pace is Sorba Thomas also scores goals.
Knows championship, associated with whu academy and wants to come to club.
£9m a bargain.
Can’t see this myself. Think after the Engels signing Nuno is likely to partner him with Kante and then maybe Soucek when he is fit. If Potts was deemed surplus to requirements then why go for someone who is not a clear upgrade? The signings we really need now are for the front positions.
It is so disappointing to let decent midfielders go which we already have. I think Ward-Prowse is not the answer, too slow.Why don’t we try and keep Douf and Kante
We must concentrate on a decent striker, not Nelson from Arsenal, some one who has been playing regular first team football, might have to go abroad to find a gem?
I can not believe we are not putting out all the stops for Parrot, prolific goal scorer and young. Piore from Leeds just one goal??, not going to light us fans up
Come on, we have been pursuing him for weeks, don’t give up now. Would’ve icing on the cake
Barron is better than many of the options available to Rangers. One of those players that are never fully appreciated until they are not there anymore. McTominay being a perfect example.
But a new manager likes to bin as much as possible of the old regime to put his own stamp on it. Not doing them much good so far. Barron worth £8-10M although Raskin would have been a better buy than Engels. Ask yourself why Belgium dropped Engels to make room for Raskin in the squad before making him an integral part of their team?
Please no. Having watched him chase around like a dog chasing a beach ball and never getting it under control he’s nowhere near good enough. Would be a waste of money.
Parrott link suggested going cold with Leeds Piroe as alternative.
Piroe would be good option as he partnered Solomon at Leeds with success.
Original selling price was £9-£10m looks like Leeds are pushing boat out for £13-£15m.
Would prefer Parrott as main striker with Piroe as second striker.
Securing both would be great but where would that leave Pablo.
Perhaps move him back to midfield.
Connor Barron is a DM looking like a chess board (one in one out) he can’t get game time at Rangers.
Just a thought that the piroe rumour might be a way of trying to get alkmaar lowering the price
Looks like he needs a good Kip
I would much prefer us to go for Thelo Aasgaard from Rangers…saw him play a few games for Luton and he caught my eye and would be a marvelous option to our midfield as an attack minded player will do wonders for us in this division as for Barron i no nothing of the player so will leave that to others but with Rangers said to be in big financial trouble well why not go for both
Dunno where you heard Rangers are in big financial trouble?
That’s absolute nonsense. The trouble Rangers have is they have to sell before they buy more because of FFP rules.
But the club are loaded with new Billionaire owners.
Connor Barron hasn’t played because he’s just recovered from an injury. He’s back training though and is a great wee player and will be back in the squad very soon.
A player who couldn’t get in to a very poor Rangers side? Let’s give this one a miss shall we? And perhaps we are done with scouring the beautiful country of Scotland for players now