Brace yourselves and strap yourselves in for the most convoluted merry-go-round of West Ham transfers I’ve covered in some time.
The short version of the story is – as you’re all aware – the Hammers are looking to sign a striker in January and see one leave in the form of Niclas Füllkrug.
The latest set of rumours looks like every striker West Ham have been linked with has been put through a super-computer to give a sort of six degrees of separation theme to the whole proceedings.
So here we go… follow if you can.
A January Window Fit for a Puzzle Master
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee has been linked with a move to the London Stadium for the best part of a month. Claret & Hugh sources have indicated he hasn’t even been discussed at board level and there is no interest.
Well, it turns out that Zirkzee is now wanted by AC Milan – who are also in the mix to sign West Ham’s wantaway striker Niclas Füllkrug. And to add an extra layer of intrigue, AS Roma have approached Manchester United for Zirkzee but only if they can terminate the loan deal of former Irons striker Evan Ferguson.
Former Hammers manager David Moyes may be in line to take Ferguson from Brighton & Hove Albion but would prefer forward Santiago Giménez. The Mexican striker is currently an AC Milan player who is rumoured to be of interest to West Ham, but the Serie A side need to sanction his departure before making a move for either Zirkzee or Füllkrug.
Anyone for musical chairs?
I can see how our transfer window will pan out
December 31st: Club statement ‘We have no money and have to sell to buy!’
Jan 7th: Club statement ‘January window is almost impossible to get players in’
Jan 8th: Other 19 Premier League clubs have all successfully strengthened areas with players they identified in October.
Jan 29th: Club statement ‘We’re monitoring players who the manager might be interested in but he told us he thinks we don’t need anyone’
Jan 31st at 5pm: Club statement ‘We’ve just put in an a bid for an aging, past his best, utility player the Chairman likes but it’s a difficult deal to do as he’s currently injured!’
Hmm. So we’re signing Valentin “Taty” Castellanos (Lazio) Clayton (Rio Ave) Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli) Santiago Giménez (AC Milan) Promise David (Union Saint-Gilloise) Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United) William Osula (Newcastle United) Joaquin Panichelli (Strasbourg) Franculino Dju (Midtjylland) Kaio Jorge (Cruzeiro) Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion) Tochukwu Nnadi (SV Zulte Waregem) Yves Bissouma (Tottenham) Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United) Samson Baidoo Ismael Saibari Sacha Boey (Galatasaray) Tiago Gabriel (Lecce) Josh Acheampong (Chelsea) Axel Disasi (Chelsea) Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar) Adama Traore (Free agent). Not sure the kit man’s going to be happy with all that extra work.
Not too sure anyone of any consequence will want to come to a poorly run doomed club, chanes are if they do , they will have seen their best days or have to be paid extortionate money or may even be unaware of how badly run this club is and see it as an easy earner , this is a last throw of a some poorly loaded dice as far as I can see, 60 years supporting this club to come to this, so sad. Wouldn’t say Nunoclue is a bad manager, just watched too restricted and defensive.
Wouldn’t it make a nice change if we were able to confirm on January 1st that a new striker has been signed and Fullkrug sold. However if history shows us anything, I suspect that we will be fannying around up until the transfer window ends.
Amen to that Gazza