Turkish newspaper Fanatik have claimed that West Ham are ‘close to an agreement’ with Besiktas for midfielder Gary Medel this summer. Pellegrini has been constantly linked with a move for the 31-year-old midfielder since taking over at West Ham.
In February this year, Pellegrini confirmed Medel was the only real player he was interested in during the January transfer window telling reporters “The only player we had interest in was Gary Medel, they told us it was free and we were interested because he can play in two or three positions. But then it turned out the player was not free.
“So I think that we have the squad and we will work with it until the end of the season. Then we will see in the summer what we need to do. The January window does not offer many solutions.”
Pedro Obiang is expected to complete his move to Sassuolo later this week for a fee thought to be around £7m.
Claret and Hugh have been told there is no planned direct replacement for Obiang so we think this is unlikely but a player possible on a free or low transfer fee is still a small possibility given the statement from the manager that he can play in up to three positions. The Turkish press hasn’t got the best track record so we have rated this rumour as low.
On a cheap / free Medel could be a good short term answer to cdm and helping cover for the back 4. Some games develop in a way whwre having him as an option could be very important, especially with Rice increasingly taking the ball forward on the pitch
Sorry but don’t want him , I think we can do better & his age is against hun , no not for me !
We have our two big money signings. I’m delighted with them. I am actually excited to see us make a couple of low fee signings now. It needs to happen, what can we unearth? Balbuena was one of the buys of the summer last season for just 4m. If we can find a left back and a defensive midfielder for similar fees, I’ll be happy. I think there’s value out there but not with players past their prime, it’s finding somebody who hasn’t yet had the opportunity.
Also get Llorente on a free.
“I think there’s value out there but not with players past their prime………”
“……Also get Llorente on a free”
The not past his prime, 34 year old forward? 🙂
Llorente is a bench player covering Haller should he be unavailable. I believe he can come in an help us continue to play the same system when he’s needed. We have limited funds so he’d be free and would only require a 1 year deal.
I believe there is value to be had finding viable first team players who can push for a place in the starting line up. I think we need a new left back and CDM who can play in the first team. That’s where I’m hoping Husillos can go an find another Balbuena type. It would be great if we could get a cheap striker but I think we should be focusing on the areas where we need first team players, not second or third choice strikers. That can wait until next summer.
To be honest I would rather we stick with what we have or take a loan or two, than make the last minute crap signings we usually do. We had a really good transfer window last year and then we blemished it by the pointless late signings of Sanchez and Perez.
Its like we have a few quid left and we HAVE-TO spend it, even though there’s only crappy, past-it players around for the remaining budget.
I too think we need a better left back and a DM orbox to box midfielder, maybe another striker. But, if we get down to the bare bones, then thats when we should play the kids, as opposed to these 30+ year old cheap ‘has-beens’.
So if we only have a few coppers, let’s stick not twist on players like Medel.