West Ham seem to be suffering from a transfer crisis of identity, and in many respects, we appear to be witnessing an attempt at panic buying from the club.
There certainly appears to be no consistency in the players currently being targeted and bid for by The Hammers’ negotiation team.
Consider for a moment the differences in age profile and characteristics of some of the most recent targets. West Ham’s first official bid of the current transfer window was for Aleix Garcia, who ended up opting to sign for Bayer Leverkusen. This was followed by a brief flirtation with Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, only to discover the player would demand Ā£10 million per year in wages.
West Ham made no secret of the fact a bid had been made for N’Golo Kante, and only today the club made a hurried bid for Youssouf Fofana, reportedly at a price in excess of Ā£10 million above what anyone else had offered.
The scattergun attempts at spending are also mirrored in the position of right back, where the three main transfer targets of the past week bear almost no resemblance in playing style to one another. The same could also be said about striker targets, which include anyone from the old and injured fox in the box Callum Wilson, to proven speedster Jonathan David, or the young, unproven hulking physicality of Jhon Duran.
West Ham’s three main RB targets are nothing alike
In short, there appears to be very little in common with any of the targets. It’s as if there is no clear cohesive strategy and no real sense of what type of player or age demographic the club wishes to sign.
Looking at the manner in which West Ham are going about their transfer business, it is very difficult to conclude that any of it is being driven by an analytical, moneyball approach to transfers. I’m not entirely sure whether we are waiting for ‘Project Steidten’ to begin or whether this is actually it? Perhaps there is a strategy, maybe there is some connected thinking which links all of our transfer targets, and I’m just too dumb to see what it is.
I certainly hope that’s the case because from the outside looking in, the whole strategy appears to be a bit of a scramble.
Are you surprised Gonzo ? This window has all the hallmarks of previous transfer windows, being out of Europe doesn’t help but it looks like Sully insisting we have multiple targets and then getting none, not sure when he will figure out just having one target and going all out to find out as quickly as possible if they will come before any windows have opened is more likely to yield results. Lopetegui has minimal involvement in this, Steidten has been successful everywhere else so the common denominator is Sullivan. We should be doing what every other club does, tapping players up so that when the window opens we can do a deal in much faster times. Even agree to buy them in one window so that they arrive the next could be worth experimenting with, whatever the case we need to operate differently to the way we currently are because it is a scattergun shambles of a way to be operating a multi million pound operation.
Life’s full of ifs and buts, seems to me people are struggling to get past Moyes, we should just wait and see what happens , maybe it will pan out just fine and everyone will be cockahoop?
Steidten is not operating under normal conditions here. Normally he buys at leisure so plenty of time to identify players with good stats who are on short contracts so who do not cost a lot.
We got ourselves into the inadvisable position of needing to replace a number of players all at the same time in only a few weeks is the problem here.
Replacing a lot of players stretches even a large budget and there will be separate budgets for each position that we need to replace.
The idea that we’re paying top dollar anywhere other than for one or two prime targets is more than naive. Worse other clubs know that we need to buy so are holding out for top dollar when ordinarily they would negotiate.
Neither Villa or Southampton moved an inch, but both will need to eventually. Other clubs are in worse PSR positions than we are and all clubs need to wheel and deal now despite what their deluded fans say. Southampton will need to budge as time runs out or they’ll lose a player for very little, while it is clearly Villas intention to move Duran on in order to balance future books. Neither are in a mad rush yet though so both are still insisting on top dollar but that will change as the window shortens.
None of this is of Steidtens making, he’s working under unfavourable circumstances rather than the more measured circumstances that suit his methods.
This is ridiculous.
You once were a site where I went for reliable info on my club. Now you have become part of the circus. You post rumors. You have a gur (Gonzo) who stirs up shit. And the more hysteria the more clicks and the more money from ads.
I understand the business logic of it. This makes more money. But I always thought you guys to be West Ham through and through. Now you have become bottom feeders who divide the fanbase and the club. Is that really worth it?
Same old West Ham , new Manager new team same old problems
West Ham have exactly the same approach as Man Utd they put offers in for 3 or 4 players in a position and then see which is the best deal. Also has the eff eat of a selling club reducing their price if they think we are looking at alternatives. Makes sense to me.
Totally agree with you, hopeless in the transfer market, constantly linked with wingers we don’t need, signed a raw kid not ready for the first team ageing back up keeper and a decent if overpriced center half, stuck with about 6 poor players signed by Moyes on high wages that nobody wants, hopefully they can prove me wrong but it doesn’t look good, life as a West Ham fan
Is the West ham approach wrong? Is Steinden letting too much information on possible targets get to the media ?
Is Loopypete really the correct manager or will he do another runner?
Ok last season was a big letdown after the brilliant Conference league win but are we expecting too much!
Unfortunately it takes time to change completely the style of play but we have brilliant Under 21 players that learn quickly and if given the chance will make great players for US.Rather than being flogged off to buy expensive and often suspect temperament so called stars.
Much harder to attract top players if youāre not in Europe. Why not target the Jarrod Bowen of the world instead. Players grateful for the step up and eager to prove themselves.
Problem , Westham aren’t big six or in Europe and so are perceived as an average Premier League club . Top players want at least one of those two things in a Premier League club and so no chance for Westham . The other major Euro leagues have only one or two big clubs and so the lesser clubs will qualify more often than in England . Steidten has a much tougher situation than his previous job .
More nonsense from this site.One issue I think Steidten does have is that there has been a mad rush by other clubs to follow the concept of buying young players who might increase significantly in value, decisions that are data driven. As much of the data is available to clubs everyone starts coming up with the same ideas of who to sign. Note how every time West Ham are linked to a young player other PL clubs like Brighton pop up as also being interested. Of course as everyone chases young players then the prices on older players start to suffer. That may now be what is happening, pivoting towards more experienced players as they represent better value. Itās also worth remembering that when players that ābigā clubs have and want to move on, but then refuse to come to West Ham thatās an issue for the selling club far more than West Ham. Those players stuck at those clubs eat up salary budget and prevent the clubs going after the players they need, all with the threat of players contracts running down and being worth zero. Paqueta is also far more of a problem than the club want to admit. If he gets a lengthy ban he is worthless and we still have commitments on paying for him. Thatās a very different scenario to the one he was bought on, bringing him to the PL to showcase his talents and then selling him on for more money.
You make some good points Dudley.
Football, like most businesses are ‘copycat’ industries and follow each other in ethos, ie Red Bull model.
Chelsea & Man Citeh, amongst others, have been spending oodles on little or unknown youngsters, with a view to profit in the future.
Players (and I’m sure most of us would have been the same) sit on hefty contracts, reluctant to leave to take a pay-cut, etc. that’s logical.
Paqueta is a different story. IF he is found to have breached rules and is given a ban, then West Ham can opt to invalidate his contract, releasing him, and may even sue? Or they can stick by him and see if he can repay the investment in him.
Agreed on Paqueta but the issue is it is an unknown and it will not be decided this window. What is he worth? Nothing, in fact less than nothing as we probably owe 25 million or so. Or is he worth 75 million. Will the decision take so long that by that time his contract will nearly be up and his value reduced – no way would we extend him ahead of a decision.
Investigations into Man City get slow walked hoping the rules get changed. With West Ham some alleged bets over bookings are impacting are impacting our transfer business and may cost us tens of millions
Considering 90% of the players linked to West Ham as targets have been no more than click bait and the usual silly season of the transfer window nonsense.. The actual targets that they are going for will probably go through… Max Kilman (done) Duran and Wan Bissaka looking very likely… maybe 1 or 2 others… Doesn’t scream panic buying to me..
Hey Guys stop smacking the messenger, Gonz and the team are doing a pretty good job which they probably donāt get paid to do.
We are all upset at the clubās approach (like most seasons) but that is Westham.
Ha.. thanks Benny ( we do read these..)..
Here’s the evidence, Bruno, Jota Silver, Gassova, Todibo, Mazaraoui, Walker-Peters, Jhon Duran, Wan-Bissaka these are serious target’s to fill three critical positions not media speculation amongst much numerous other so called target’s. It’s fair comment, I appreciate it’s not easy with no European football and dealing with agent’s and player’s but it appears disjointed and uncoordinatedabd not unlike the January window and we know how that ended!
Gonzo appears to believe the click bait that is churned out to getting us reading and then frustrated. Suggest we wait and see who W H bring in before rushing to judgement.
Being a long term reader of this page. I donāt believe itās C&H click baiting. The saga of West Ham signing players is renown to us fans. There are two variables this season that is causing this uncertainty with the transfer period.
1 – we have no European campaign which unfortunately means players are less inclined to join us over clubs who are competing in those campaigns.
2 – The financial restrictions have really hampered our ability to pay for players over the last few years.
Being a true hammers fan like the team C&H we know that things never are smooth for us. Letās stop bagging each other and accept the roller coaster transfer period we always have as part of the journey. I have no doubt we will get three more signings before the transfer period shuts. COYI
exactly so, Deniz.
you are not to dum to see it you are dead right this goes on every year and then when everone has purchased there season tickets they come out with the same old bull shit saying we did try
Gonzo is just reacting to the latest news, which is what these sites are for.
We all know the vast majority of players mentioned are click bate.
As mentioned donāt start shooting the messenger who is providing us with latest a ālatest news updateā
Gonzo is a hammer who is providing entertainment and if you donāt like it guess whatā¦ā¦.
Hold on – are you suggesting your beloved Steidten isn’t the genius you told us he would be?
The same guy trying to buy a player for West Ham in January, but negotiating with the wrong agent for Ibrahim Osman?
I’ll give him this – he likes travelling the world.
Thank you. Someone seems to get it. Moyes and Sullivan make easy targets but Steitden shouldnāt escape criticism. There seems to be no plan, we outbid ourselves for Guillerme, weāre chasing a well-known mature malcontent in Duran, we havenāt offloaded any of our deadweight (Ings, Zouma, Cornet) and we still donāt have another CB. Yet we keep chasing CMs we donāt need? If we need a CM itās only because he sold Downes. The only signings this summer have been an 18 year old with one goal to his name (and it took a month to finish) and a guy who the manager demanded we bring in. Steidten hasnāt cut the mustard for me.
“Steidten hasnāt cut the mustard for me.” … err, what now??
Last summer, Steiden did much of his work late in the window, (Kudos signed end of August)
There’s still 34 days of transfer window to go, so can we just wait until September, before we turn on the owners/coaches/DoFs etc.
Now just hang on a mo. Before you destroy Gonzo, ask yourself if any self-respecting club would launch a bid for a player without first establishing if said player would consider moving to the club. No they wouldnāt, unless they were playing games. So why is it we seem to keep doing it? Why is it we seem to be the club targets donāt want to sign for? That aināt on Gonzo.
Once again our āfanbaseā media is content with filling their pages with āno substantial infoā drivel. You included! Why can you just wait until there is something worthwhile to report on. Let those with the knowledge, negotiation skills and more importantly the purse strings do their work. One they have then start your speculating
Let’s be honest most of the above would improve our squad. I just think we are always looking for value. We are trying for players that are a little bit too good for our project. We offered 10M more for Fofana to try and force a deal(Still cheap IMO). It was always a long shot without European football. I think SWP is our first choice RB but we don’t want to move at the current price as Southampton will lower their valuation near the end of the window. Unless they can get him to sign a new contract. We won’t fill all the gaps this window but the board have got to have options.
Stick to your YT channel, clearly going to real fact as opposed to clickbait rubbish is clouding your judgement.
You have no idea what is going on behind the scenes, so until you prove you have a smidgeon of real news I suggest you fade into the shadows
Do you even understand the meaning of the word clickbait you utter moron? this is an opinion piece could the headline be any clearer. Gonzo is spot on in his analysis – clearly you donāt have sufficient brain power to counter his arguments and need to resort to just because being a sad little troll. Some advice – Stop visiting a site where intelligent adults play and go hang out with the attention seeking babies and real clickbait garbage at hammers.news.
Look, Stefano, if it really isn’t working for you here, be happy, best wishes and find somewhere else to get your WH news. Nobody makes you keep coming back.
Itās wasting time with the potential of wasting money.
Its only panic buying when you actually sign someone.
Agree with Gonzo just below that buy threshold, making serious offers in what looks scattergun is a worry.
I agree with Sunshine, why do you keep churning out this rubbish when you have absolutely no idea what is going on.
Do you really think Steidten and Lopotegui have no idea what they are doing.
Look at most Premier league clubs and you will find nobody has made a significant number of signings. Be patient and have some faith.