By Hughie Southon
Having been away on a short break I’ve been following CandH like the rest of you for news of window developments.
Sadly, things feel much the same as they did before I left for Devon although the one thing I am now pretty sure about is that Tomas Soucek will be on his way.
Thus far, since the manager became involved in the winter and summer windows, we have seen him try for three quality midfielders – Kalvin Phillips, Raphinha and now Lille’s Amadou Onana.
He has, it seems. failed with all three at big prices which means they are not being looked at as Mark Noble or Alex Krall replacements.
It looks pretty certain that Tomas is the man he intends to replace as he will need additional cash to get somebody in along with a striker which frankly I would have believed might have been the major priority.
Whether we agree or not that Tomas should be leaving is an irrelevancy now although I will be bitterly disappointed should it happen.
I still hope I’m wrong but it’s starting to look very dubious to me that he will remain in claret and blue.
I’m obviously not privy to the conversation you have with your sources, but I don’t really follow your logic.
The reality is that for us to progress we need real competition around the park. That means having players who aren’t happy being on the bench like Noble and Kral, but believe they should be in the team and pushing those who have the shirt. If we sign a quality CM and they take Soucek’s place, it makes no sense to sell Soucek. He should be in the squad trying to win his place back.
We also have to recall we don’t currently have the scope to rotate and rest which is to our disadvantage. Declan, plus Soucek, plus a quality CM gives us this scope. It also lets us firm up midfield when situations dictate.
West Ham have to get away from this idea you only have a ‘first choice XI’ and clear and unequivocal ‘back up players’. We need a squad of guys that are all valid first XI picks. Signing a quality CM on that basis should have nothing to do with whether Soucek stays or goes.
Yes Hughie it looks certain and even so he has no surety that the Lille youngster can perform in the Prem,. Much as I love the achievements of the last two years, I don’t like the Soucek development, and would have expected some real action for a striker. What are they doing? Players leaving, only one new squad member, no intention of playing out U23’s but bidding on several young players from lower clubs. Spuds are currently sealing their fifth signing, we seem to be drifting.
Personnaly i would much rather see Moyes go, if everytime he has a disagreement with a player ( Haller , Benrahma , Soucek ) it means that the player has to go then this seriously questions his management style.
I will be gutted if he leaves we need to add to what we have not weaken the squad. We need to get someone in soon as time ticks quick in the window . Why have we not got a left back , and striker in already . If Moyes keeps waiting we’re at risk of having just Antonio again . Can’t wait on Borja unless we have knowledge he wants to join us , Chelsea will sell and there’s no competition which there is .
I sincerely hope that Soucek stays at the club gets a new contract as I think he deserves one. Should he leave I think Moye will regret selling on of our better players.
We need squad replacements for Noble, Kral, Vlasic and Yarmolenko……. but not Soucek. He’s not going anywhere. Benrahma is more likely to leave this window or in January, I’d say.
I like the way David Moyes conducts team affairs and dealing with transfer information. We can all remember the constant stream of chatter from David Sullivan and to a lesser extent from David Gold. This was quite rightly condemned by us fans. Just look at all the other clubs, there are no public comments at all until transfer deals are done and signed. Similarly no public comments about internal team affairs. Long may it continue!