By Hughie Southon
One time target Raphina
It’s always good to go for the best but realism is also an important element in the transfer market.
Yes, we want to see players who can make a serious difference arriving at West Ham and there is no question that several of the names we have seen linked with the club recently would have done that.
Raphina, Phillips, Nunez and now Ward-Prowse are among those being named as among those players David Moyes would love to bring into the West Ham squad.
That’s admirable in itself but so far the closest we have come to signing anyone this summer is the hopeful arrival of Nayef Aguerd which could be completed today or over the weekend.
That of course would give us five central defenders as things stand and we await names emerging for the left back and striker positions hopefully.
We are left to hope that the manager will be looking at quality obtainable targets rather than perhaps spending too much time on the star names he may have only a small chance of landing.
The window clock is ticking.
Agree: in view of the number of players needed Moyes has to perform a balancing act. Although we all want a star signing like Ward-Prowse, the quoted fee of £75 may be better spent on three players in this window. However another aspect of making more money available is to fill some gaps from within, in which case we need to look at playing Okoflex rather than signing the likes of Januzaj. Similarly, why not bring on Ashby and Longelo off the bench in meaningful games to give them a chance of showing their ability. Conor Coventry is another who should be utilised. It is still early days in the window and we don’t know much is in the transfer kitty but Moyes needs to get this balancing act right and, hopefully, players such as Broja and Gallagher will be in the mix.
Sums it up very well, anyone can list names who would be big signings, it’s another thing altogether to actually seriously bid that kind of money and another again to be in pole position to pull it off. We went through January with the ‘must improve the squad’ mantra and got nothing. Less chat more action please and keep it real.
At some point our chairmen have to be ambitious if they want to be regular challengers to the top four. Liverpool, City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Utd, maybe Newcastle all have relatively unlimited funds to spend, we have the potential to crash into that lot if we invest in the right players to enhance what we have. We have a lot of solid players with a few that could kick on further, Ben Johnson, Benrahma, Fornals all have a lot of improvement in them and maybe Vlasic if he can find his feet, plus we have a very good youth team. We have a core but we are lacking in depth and need a few to lift us up by 6 – 9 points a season, striker, left back, attacking midfield in particular. We need to be able to control games in possession and we are missing players that can lift us to that level, Lingard was one that could hold onto the ball and make things happen we need others that can do that so we can be better at shutting games out.