CandH Exclusive by Hughie Southon
David Moyes sees central defender Nayef Aguerd as his marquee signing of the summer…once it happens!
The club believe the deal will be done by the end of the week as the clock ticks by and with other positions urgently needing to be filled.
A Hammers source has just revealed to ClaretandHugh the Rennes defender is very close to joining the club although today may be a little early.
Aguerd’s arrival has been expected for several weeks but we understand that the widely reported fee of €30 million euros is on the low side with our Hammers insider explaining the fee is in fact closer to €35 million.
He has become a very big deal for the manager despite us currently having Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop available at central defence.
In fact our insider claimed that he would be the marquee signing of the summer declaring: “He’s the manager’s number one summer pick at 35m euros.”
I hope this isn’t true, nobody had even heard of this guy, more of a pergola than a marquee imho, he may turn out to be decent but £35m is over the odds, Can’t think that Ward-Prowse will go for less than £60m which if this post is true means we aren’t going for him at all and will probably end up with a load of old rubbish like the bad old windows we remember only too well.
Could be that Diop is on his way? otherwise doesn’t make much sense
Marquee signing? Let’s hope he’s good then, because although he is a left-sided centre back we could get Sven Botman for the same price. So if he is our top buy then, presumably, we can kiss goodbye to the likes of Raphinha and Watkins which begs the question how much has Moyes been given to spend? I worry that he is only going to buy another two or three players and have them cover a number of positions and we will have another season where we rely on the same limited squad. Unless, of course, Moyes breaks the habit of his managerial career and brings through some of our Academy prospects. The transfer window has a long way to go but it is concerning if Aguerd is to be the height of our ambitions.
But to be fair, how many had heard of Lanzini, Payet, Soucek the big names go with the big prices and still no guarantee you’re not signing a dog
Payet was the top assist/provider in French League 1 prior to signing…
True enough, good scouting will be key to building a squad to compete, and Rob Newman is supposedly an expert on French football….
From a tactical perspective, Aguerd should allow Moyes to deploy 3-4-3 in certain situations, which may benefit at times?
Our marquee signing should not be a centre back. We do need one, but we already have four others. We only have ONE striker
Zouma was last seasons Marque signing…. although 2 years in a row doesn’t fill me with optimism
If that’s our marquee signing , then maybe there hoping Antonio can lead the line on his own till he’s 40 !
In moyes we trust lol the guys either a poor coach on transfers or the board are not supporting him with 150mill plus sales which is needed as he doesn’t use 23s and tells us the board is helping him so let him grow a pair and either resign saying the board haven’t given me the tools to buy or its me that dithers and slow on getting what I need.
Ahh, managing our expectations that a not exactly well known centre back is our marquee signing, and we’ll be shopping in the bargain basement for the remaining 5-6 signings! A striker should be our marquee signing as if we’re reliant on Antonio alone again we’ll be going backwards.
Well if that’s the Marquee signing where are we getting a quality striker , midfielder , left back from . Plus we need cover for a very thin squad . How are we going to challenge / improve if that is the ambition !
A £35m centre back is our Marquis signing? As in top spend? No Ward-Prowse, decent centre forward? We could end up with a scratch squad built for relegation at this rate.
I thought it was reported as £20mil. +++
Given only a couple of months ago a fee of £13mil. was suggested, £30+ seems like inflation has gone into overdrive…??!!