Pelle’s on a central defender hunt

West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini’s hunt for a left sided central defender looks set to continue into January despite it being widely believed that he is entirely content with the squad at his disposal.

It’s been obvious for some time that the boss remains keen to keep a right/left combination going at the heart of defence where Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna have been teamed with Fabian Balbuena becoming a seven match victim thus far.

Pellegrini is staying with the current situation but with question marks continuing to hang over Winston Reid,  the boss is keen to bring in a left footed central defender given both the Paraguayan and Reid favour their right side.

And it may explain why reported summer targets Guillermo Marapan and a reported €18million offer for Palmeiras ‘Gustavo Gomez  were both wide of the mark.

A loan signing with an option to buy could be on the cards in January although there is unlikely to any other action although were a striker to be available on the same basis that would be a possibility

However, the hope is that Michail Antonio will be back to full form and fitness and ready to cover through the middle  should it be required.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

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