A long standing target who has been in, and out of the news – and in again – is former Celtic star Jota. West Ham were linked with the Winger early in the window as were his former club from the Scottish Premier League.
Remember the player in question? Gonzo kept referring to him as the ‘Portuguese George Michael’. Not to be confused with Jota Silva currently playing for Portuguese side Vitória Guimarães SC
Jota was a massive hit at Celtic, culminating in his £25 million move to Al-Ittihad which has not worked well. He has not been included in the first team squad which means he is limited to a few friendlies and Asian Champions League appearances.
He is not short of suitors: apart from The Irons and Celtic, Besiktas have been interested in a loan deal.
Again for 2024/5 Jota is likely to miss out on inclusion on the all-important list of foreign players in the Ittihad league squad. Amazingly he reportedly receives £190,000 a week for sitting on the sidelines. And there in lies the problem.
Would be suitors are being told a loan is only possible if the loaning club picks up the whole £9,880000 a year (yes that is almost ten million pounds tax free ) salary. Ditto any proposed sale- Al Ittihad won’t contribute at all to get the player off their payroll.
Add into this the tax issues for a player moving away from Saudi Arabia and it is looking well-nigh impossible that the 25-year old Portuguese player formally known as João Pedro Neves Filipe – (but ‘Jota’ fits on a shirt better ) is likely to turn up in a claret and blue, or green and white hooped shirt any time soon.
Looks as if he is another player who , having made the decision to move to Saudi, just has to take the money and while away his contract without any hope of competitive football.
Every man and his dog learned how much we had to spend this summer and how many players/positions we wanted and needed to cover. We were left open to be linked with everyone and held to ransom. We should have been a bit more private with our business. My advice would be to ignore the rumours and links. The papers and social media don’t run the club. 30+ days is a long time in football, let’s be patient…..they know what they’re doing.
Keep The Faith. COYI!
It’s not Lopetegui and steinden messing around it’s Sullivan scrimping and ducking and diving with low offers! Also because we aren’t in Europe due to moyes inadequacies that top players ie fofana and todibo aren’t interested! We need to check if the players are interested in our project before offering any money? Wahi from lens would be a good addition with Duran if w can get it done!!! COYI
Kevlar,
Appreciate your view, agree that top players are currently more interested in playing in Europe comp. for Man U or Juve, but that’s not something new or surprising.
What evidence is there, that Sullivan is involved?
PS: Poor Joao Pedro etc. riding the pine for nearly £200k a week, tax free, my heart bleeds. Keep the mercenary away from West Ham!
I can’t see as any club will pick up on ten million quid a year wages. This is not a West Ham issue.
Yet another shambles as we head towards the transfer closure. We all had so much support for our new managers but they have let us down so badly wasting time going down so many dead end deals and STILL we have only bought 3 miserly
players when in reality we need to buy at least another TEN players to replace the many who need to be moved on and the rest for covering last seasons gaps!! The way we are going we are heading away from the top ten and instead be sweating in the bottom THREE. Please stop going down dead ends and instead buy players who want to play for West Ham and if you cannot get a deal done then move on to the next player. We have wasted THREE weeks without buying a single player, that is ridiculous when we need so many and now we are finding out that half our players are rubbish when any supporter could have told you that.
While opinions are great, this is why you do what you do, and the successful guys that run these clubs do what they do!
Wow, Tim. Knee-jerk reaction much?
Just because you read about West Hams interest/offer on some fansite, it doesn’t make it reality.
According to the internet, West Ham been linked with over 100 players in this window alone, so not all can have legs?
With 3 weeks until KO and 34 days of a window, your hysterical reaction is unwarranted.
Absolutely ridiculous
1) this is a rumour based on previous interest
2) we don’t need to sign 10, and couldn’t even afford to. RB, LW, striker and maybe a CM. CB too if we offload Zouma or Aguerd
3) bottom 3? We already have 2 new players in over the team that finished 9th
Why (like so many others) always moaning?
Still 5 weeks till the window shuts