By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham are being linked with a move for veteran striker Jamie Vardy, according to breaking reports from Sky Sports News.
Hammers fans of a certain vintage will remember us being linked with the former England striker way back in our final season at Upton Park, after the forward had fired Leicester City to the Premier League title.
At the time, then-chairman David Sullivan was rumoured to be preparing a £20 million offer for Vardy, with plenty claiming the then 29-year-old was too old.
Well, it would appear that 39 isn’t much of a hindrance as far as the Hammers’ intentions are concerned, with West Ham now linked with the free agent who is pushing 40 years of age.
Parrott remains West Ham’s top transfer target
Parrott remains the deal to do
At this point, it’s difficult to gauge how much substance there is to the Vardy rumour.
After all, West Ham are pressing ahead with plans to sign AZ Alkmaar striker Troy Parrott, although it’s understood the Hammers’ opening offer is well short of the Eredivisie side’s valuation.
As I looked at in more detail when assessing what Parrott could bring to West Ham, the former Tottenham striker looks to possess many of the qualities Nuno Espírito Santo wants from his centre-forward.
Vardy, of course, has enjoyed an exceptional career, but one would hope West Ham’s finances and ambitions stretch beyond signing a striker many thought would have retired years ago.
As a back-up option, it might not be a bad idea.
Questions would have to be asked
However, if it does transpire that West Ham aren’t prepared to offer decent money for an up-and-coming or proven striker in his prime and instead opt for a 39-year-old free agent, questions will have to be asked about the current state of the club’s ambition and finances.
We’ve already seen how important genuine attacking quality can be, with Taty Castellanos scoring twice in the 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Portsmouth.
West Ham still need to strengthen Nuno’s squad and, given the importance of immediately returning to the Premier League, centre-forward isn’t an area where I’d particularly like to see us cutting corners.
For now, though, hopefully this is simply another transfer rumour without too much substance behind it.
Vardy may not be a man for tomorrow but might do a job for our season in the Championship. Could be a great fallback signing if we can’t get our main targets.
No.
Although not out and out striker Traore is better option could also cover left & right flanks.
Nuno should have played him more often, Man of the match against Leeds.
Vardy shows no ambition.
An ambitious shout would be Dusan Vlahovic.
I thought from previous press releases there was a £190m black hole in the finances. So even with the sales so far it is still a hole.
If we get a few million for AWB and similar for Fullkrug there will still be a big hole to mend.
The mind boggles with the Vardy links, can’t see Disasi signing, Engels is off the table and we might as well have Monty Python running our striker search as am sure there will be reports of a deceased Parrott search.
I think we’re be “sick as a parrott”!
Did you ever watch ‘Moneyball’? We need a set of players to get us promoted. That means buying, loaning or getting players in on one year contracts with the combined set of attributes to get us up. None of those players is likely to be perfect. Just good enough to get the job done. What we don’t need to do is overpay for a set of players who we can’t resell or release next year when its obvious they aren’t going to be good enough for the PL.
Lets hope this is just silly season. Its is a retrograde move. We need to bring in young talent that gets us back into the premiership and keeps us there. Signing Vardy is just the same old West Ham signing old and past it players and paying them too much.
I think everyone is missing something if we sign parrot and vardy it will be to absorb the outcry when we sell taty which i believe is their intention.
Watch this space.
kinda obvious innit?