The news that West Ham have been seriously considering David Hancko is perplexing, in the context of everything else we’ve gleaned from the club regarding this summers’ transfer window. The Feyenoord defender – a left footed centre-back – is certainly a quality player at the peak of his powers.
However that is the perplexing part: In January he was linked with interest from both Chelsea and Tottenham and even then, the suggestion was that his Dutch club wouldn’t consider letting him go for any less than €50 million. Just last week, footballfancast.com suggested Chelsea were back in the mix for Hancko at a level of £42 million:
“If there is one defender who is widely wanted across Europe this summer, it is Feyenoord and Slovakia international David Hancko.. Chelsea are one of the sides ready to make an offer to sign him this summer. The report suggests the Blues ‘want to work on the arrival of the defender’ before someone else snatches him up.
They will face stiff competition, however, with West Ham United the other Premier League side said to be interested in striking a summer deal.”
Normally when a player is ‘linked’ with that sort of price label, the temptation is to move on pretty quickly and mark it down as another West Ham rumour without legs.
ExWHUemployee confirmed the clubs’ interest in Hanko yesterday: But breaking the club’s transfer record for a defender and shelling out more than Max Kilman money seems unlikely even without considering West Ham’s dire need of new strikers. The news that Aaron Cresswell isn’t being retained certainly means the club has to improve the left side of defence but at over forty million Hanko seems a little far fetched, especially since European giants Atletico Madrid and Juventus are also in the mix (teamtalk).
Only if a sale is countenanced of one of West Ham’s more valuable defensive assets – either Todibo, Kilman himself or on-loan Nayef Aguerd – in a like for like deal -would this story seem remotely plausible. Now isn’t THAT intriguing?
Kilman is a poor resemblance of Bonzo and Stretch.
Sorry we are stuck with him on a 7 year contract.