West Ham are eyeing Hugo Ekitike from Frankfurt, according to numerous reports suggesting the Hammers would be willing to offer big money for the Frenchman.
If his name sounds familiar, it’s because we have been linked with the frontman on numerous occasions before – but apparently, this time it’s different. Poppycock!
The reality is that West Ham will not move for any striker until this season has concluded. As things stand, Graham Potter’s transfer priority remains Evan Ferguson.
Far too much has been made of the fact that the Hammers did not secure a loan deal with an obligation to buy from Brighton Hove Albion. However, having spoken to multiple sources both inside and outside the club, the current short-term deal is no reflection on the club’s intent to sign Ferguson permanently.
In an ideal world, the young Irish striker will endear himself to West Ham fans and remain injury-free until the end of the season.
The club will then re-enter negotiations with Brighton over the permanent transfer of the forward, who made his Irons debut as a second-half substitute against Brentford.
Any talk of Ekitike or other strikers should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt. Naturally, Kyle Macaulay will be compiling dossiers on potential signings if the Ferguson deal doesn’t materialise. But make no mistake, the 20-year-old currently wearing claret and blue remains West Ham’s No.1 transfer target in attack
My only concern is he could be another Andy Carroll and the parallels are eerily similar.
After all, both are known to be dangerous in the air and (on their day) could be a nightmare for defenders and when we first brought Carroll in on loan, Liverpool were insistent on an option/obligation to buy but we, again, insisted on a “dry” loan due to both concerns over his performances and his injury record.
And despite Carroll having two spells out injured for around a month each time, we still made the move permanent… and he was even injured on the final day of the loan season, came back in September and injured himself again within a week.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Carroll and if Ferguson puts in the same effort on the pitch I’d be delighted but when you think back to Carroll and how similar the initial loan arrangement was and don’t have The Omen theme in your head regarding the possibility of signing Ferguson permanently then you might need to start humming it…
So as i see it Gonzo the Transfer saga of the summer is going to be this Ferguson deal…it will go back and forth all summer right down to the last seconds on transfer deadline day i will stupidly go to bed early wake up the next morning with the headline Wilson sogns on a free
Brighton will and do play hard ball on price . Obligation to buy would likely have been 60 million plus and therefore any option to buy the same . Ferguson isn’t going to score 8-10 goals this season and probably less than 5 and so his value may diminish and that’s what Westham will be hoping for this summer .
Makes no sense why we didnt want an obligation or even an option to buy included if Hes our no1 target for the summer.
I think it makes total sense if a dry loan was the only option on the table. The alternative was probably no striker, so better to have him for 6 months than no-one.
We don’t know what the options were, and will likely never know as we’re not in the room when deals are negotiated. So I’ll choose to trust that the club knew what they were doing and went for the best possible option, rather than assume they’re idiots. 🙂
Well you’ve got a lot of belief in Sullivan and co Mr Buddy, that’s all I can say, but go ahead and believe what you wanna believe.
I have to say I feel the same as K, above. I think the club, Sullivan in particular, has proven without doubt that they are idiots. The appointment of Lopetegui, the signing of a Halfkrug and lots of money on a junior player from Brazil who may or may not prove worth it. That’s even without going through the ridiculous signings that Sullivan has presided over since 2010. Incompetence comes to mind when I associate him with football club ownership. But he has thick skin and nobody seems able to get through to him and his ego.