By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham have moved quickly after their latest attempt to sign Troy Parrott collapsed, with Joel Piroe now believed to have reached a personal agreement with the Hammers.
But I’m struggling to see this as particularly good news.
Missing out on Parrott is a big disappointment because I believe his pace, pressing and movement would have added something West Ham desperately need.
Piroe Feels Like The Emergency Option
Piroe may well prove me wrong, but right now he feels very much like the emergency striker option after West Ham failed to land their preferred target.
The proposed deal is expected to be cheaper, potentially structured as a loan with an obligation to buy, but whether that saving is then used to strengthen elsewhere remains to be seen.
Only two days ago, Parrott remained firmly in West Ham’s sights, so this has been quite a dramatic change of direction.
In this video, I discuss why the Parrott deal collapsed, the rapid switch to Piroe and why I’m not quite ready to put a positive spin on West Ham’s latest change of transfer plans.
We are a joke, Gonzo, pure and simple. How many times have we ended up with anyone but our first choice target? I saw nothing yesterday that has me believing promotion is achievable and Piroe, who didn’t score in 16 games last season is who we are now looking to get us out of this tough league, overwhelmed!!
We need 2 strikers. As Sunday proved we don’t have enough attacking options.
Add to that a CB as Killman still a liability defensively, a left back if El Diouf goes (Scarles makes too many mistakes) and a defensive midfielder if Alvarez goes (too often Burnley sliced through out midfield too easily)
Chris – The club needs to tell us the gap in valuation on the Troy Parrott transfer. We walked away over how much exactly? If Betis are prepared to meet the AZ valuation then why aren’t we given we will bank £20m for AWB and £45m for Diouf this week. When Tatty downs tools we are right in the brown stuff. Disappointment after disappointment. No Parrott, no Desasi, no full backs, no leader at the back and no quality.
Parrott would be ideal but if we didn’t want to pay the price, then I’m at least glad we realise we can’t delay any longer. Piroe is a proven Championship performer, a compromise for sure, but if he helps us get promoted then that is the main thing. The fact that we want a loan with an obligation to buy indicates we are financially quite limited. Don’t forget we still hope to buy Disasi for £25m and clearly we need cover on the wings. Can’t quite work out what the plan is in midfield but another option at 10 and even a cdm may be required. Enjoy the ride if you can.
Do koppins and the rest not see the huge issues we have in the squad, namely we have a massive lack of pace throughout the side and their solution? Let’s get yet another slow immobile player! I’d rather go and get vardy (and I don’t really want him) I’m seriously worried that the recruitment team isn’t very good at resolving the issues in the squad
Parott has scored around 10 goals in the Champinship in 6 years. Piro has scored around 70 in 3 years. Its pretty cler which one we shluld be going for to get us out of this division
Would rather take Flemming on, he is relentless. Burnley are more or least sure they will lose him before the transfer deadline.