According to Spanish newspaper AS, West Ham are interested in signing Atletico Madrid winger Nicolas Gaitan
Atletico will register Diego Costa and Vitolo when their transfer ban expires in January and need to clear space in their squad. Gaitan is among the names on the chopping block alongside Kevin Gameiro and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco.
The ex-Benfica star has started more than half of his games in the Spanish capital from the bench and is set to fall further down the pecking order. The 29-year-old knows he needs more playing time if he is to convince Jorge Sampaoli to add to his 16 Argentina caps.
Southampton,Everton and Crystal Palace have all been linked alongside the Hammers with the winger. Last summer West Ham reportedly offered the Argentine a loan option with an option but the deal never materialised.
Intriguing updates. Surely the players a club intend to buy should be informed by a business development plan; in turn this should be driven by a strategic vision for the club, linked to the establishment of its ‘brand’. Why is it that at West Ham the selection process seems to be driven by desperation and crisis? At every transfer window a dodgy and failing short-term manager or coach commits the club to purchasing what they consider to be ‘short run’ expedients and ‘fix a problem’ players. Why isn’t there a strategic vision for the kind of football the club wants to play, set at Club level, with a coaching and back room team selected to develop and deliver this strategic vision. From this a shopping-list of player talent – for now and for the future – can be drawn up.
This would be a sustainable approach to planning a Club’s brand or future. And in this day and age of sophisticated management and leadership thinking, is this really too much to ask or expect of a progressive football club? The owners and club leadership of both Manc’s, of Arsenal and Spurs have really grasped this approach. Like ’em or loathe ’em, the truth is they work, they function, they thrive rather than merely survive. Sadly, survival seems to be the Hammers business model. Isn’t a more progressive and sophisticated kind of management and leadership thinking the ‘stuff’ of which Lady Brady’s ‘apprentice’ malarkey is made? Or claims to be made? So why not apply this kind of thinking to the development of our club. Mr. Levy does this at the Spurs. Rather this professionalism over the perennial mess of scratching about at every transfer window for the Joe Allen’s of the footballing world: mediocre and workaday players that fit the operational desperation of a club in the mire. One whose leadership does little to inspire confidence in its grasp of what it takes to craft an enterprising brand. Well, that’s the theory in the ideal world.
Meanwhile ‘back to the future’ of Hammers Club reality. Suppose we need to grasp any player who is prepared to join us, and pray this enables us to win a few more games starting with WBA….COYI
Ps: loving the Irons, being passionate about the team, being immersed in nostalgia of the Clubs history and past while linked to aspirations for the future is not at odds with my being critically constructive of the Club’s business model, its ownership and leadership shortcomings, and its coach/manager incumbent. The co-owners have legal possession of the ‘club’ as a business entity; they do not own my history, my experiences, and my memories: these are Iron in the blood.