By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
According to the London Standard, Axel Disasi looks set to reject the chance of a return to West Ham and instead join Crystal Palace.
If that’s the case, then perhaps we’ve just had something of a reality check.
Let’s be fair, West Ham have actually had it pretty good since relegation.
Jarrod Bowen has committed his future to the club, Taty Castellanos now appears increasingly likely to stay and, as Claret & Hugh has reported previously, there remains optimism that Konstantinos Mavropanos will also remain at Rush Green.
That simply doesn’t happen very often to clubs dropping into the Championship.
Reality Has Finally Arrived
Ipswich Town supporters won’t need reminding what usually happens.
Just twelve months ago they lost Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson as Premier League clubs came calling. That’s normally the reality facing relegated sides.
Unfortunately, it looks as though we’ve now experienced a little bit of that reality ourselves.
Disasi was outstanding during his loan spell at West Ham and I’ve got little doubt that a partnership alongside Mavropanos would have been the best centre-back pairing in the Championship.
As difficult as it is to accept, Crystal Palace are currently a far more attractive proposition.
They’re a Premier League club, they’ve won the FA Cup, Conference League, they’re playing European football and, from a player’s perspective, it’s an easy decision to understand.
Time For Koppen To Earn His Corn
Fair play to the West Ham owners for trying to land Nuno Espírito Santo’s top defensive target.
Sometimes, though, you simply lose out to a club in a stronger position.
That’s where having a recruitment director such as Nils Koppen becomes so important.
With Disasi seemingly off the table, it’s now time for Koppen to dust off his digital dossier and identify a centre-back capable of having a similar impact.
If his reputation is justified, this is exactly the sort of challenge he was brought to West Ham to solve.
We have to make it our absolute mission to rebuild the football club so that we sit above the likes of Crystal Palace, Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton & Fulham. It’s one thing to have a hate rivalry with a club like Spurs or fall behind Villa or Everton etc.. but these are big clubs that will always at some point find their time in the sun, as we should too. But it’s another thing to be mocked and handing superiority complex’s to fans of the clubs mentioned at the top. As fans we have to a) support a project that could take time to heal us but b) continue to hold the club to account and accept no hollow words or promises. Ios these lies along with underfunding and complete mis-management fed to us that have led to this current predicament.
For me the shine has completely been knocked off our conference trophy success by Crystal Palace now winning it.
It’s becoming more akin to winning an inter toto cup, the competition it kind of replaced.
Similar impact? Harry Souttar. 2 metres tall, leadership exp at 2 World cups (lost one match in 4 apart from shoot out & 2 clean sheets, aerial presence at both ends, affordable option.
Similar impact? Harry Souttar. 2 metres tall, leadership exp at 2 World cups (lost one match in 4 apart from shoot out & 2 clean sheets, aerial presence at both ends, affordable option.
We still have Max Kilman. I know not popular, but might shine in the championship.
I’m on the fence with Kilman. I don’t think he’ll shine but I also think he won’t let himself down either. I suspect it’s just his level but I hope you’re right and that I’m wrong.
It’s so gutting to have fallen behind a tinpot outfit like Palace.
It wasn’t long ago that this lot were getting 14k in the Championship.
Now their fans think they’re Real Madrid. I’m hoping they’ll drop back down to where they belong soon enough, and we swap places.
Reality check, we are currently the tin pot club.
I’ll believe that story when I see Disasi holding a Palace shirt with his squad number on the back.
Not the end of the world at all, Disasi was great for the first sort of 6 weeks and did tail off a little bit, we can get better value elsewhere.
Weve got the perfect c back Gonzo in front of our eyes ALVAREZ