Am I the only one who looks at the current interest West Ham hold in Manchester City’s young talent James McAtee was a ‘replacement’ for Lucas Paquetá with a certain wry smile? After all , it was not long a go that the Brazilian was lining up an £85 million move to The Etihad before the Yellow Card betting scandal broke.
Now Paqueta’s hearing approaches and West Ham at the same time are hoping to buy a ‘surplus’ £20 million McAtee. News today broken by Gonzo suggests ‘West Ham’s McAtee Bid Blocked by Man City’. I’m not surprised.
Maybe I have been in business too long but it seems pretty clear to me that Man City have the opportunity to see just how interested we are in McAtee and how desperate West Ham are to get Paquetá’s salary off the books in January. ‘Testing West Ham’s resolve’ by suggesting a ‘token amount’ for taking Paquetá off our hands as part of the deal could be a spectacular piece of business if the midfielder escapes a ban, and if his value was written in at-say only £5 million – as part of the McAtee deal – then the downside to Manchester City would be tiny.
Steidten isn’t the only one who can work his dark arts. Let’s see how this one develops in January.
Important to state of course that Lucas Paquetá strongly protests his innocence of all accusations.
We wont spend a penny in January is my guess.
Either WH pull the trigger on Lopi after the Arsenal game and give the new person a chance to buy in January and based on fixtures in December a chance to start with a win. Or
Sully holds out until end of January ie no Jan spend and limp to the end of the season.
My moneys is on the latter.
Jimbo2, I think you’re probably spot on after blowing the entire budget in the last window. Would probably need to sell first but our record of buying new players is very hit and miss. I dare say, once we near the bottom three the panic button will be hit hard, new manager and a desperate attempt to reverse our fortunes by shoring up a leaky defence and impotent attack and another wasted season. One thing’s for certain Sullivan and the board don’t have a clue I wouldn’t let them run a Sunday morning pub team!