The clearest indication that the transfer market went totally bonkers in the summer can be seen in the following figures:
2015:
Dimitri Payet £10 million
Manu Lanzini £8 million
2016
Andre Ayew £20 million
Simone Zaza £20 million
Sky and BT Sports money are calling the shots but not to the point where West Ham can even consider paying double for Zaza what they forked out for Dimi and nearly 150 per cent more for Manu. That would be utterly ridiculous.
That they went £20 million for Ayew has been widely accepted as well OTT but with the likes of summer Irons target Michy Batshuayi coming off the Chelsea bench with 13 minutes left against Man U today, having cost them around £40 million, tells its own tale on going prices right now.
Maye the biggest mistake David Sullivan made in the summer was to make his feelings on wanting a £20-£25 million striker at the club public given there were hardy any around worth even £15 million in real terms.
With so few available at silly mony, it was never going to happen but the criticism only started to roll off the terraces when he failed.
We are still without a striker because Zaza has been a shocking failure, Calleri isn’t ready, Fletcher’s too immature at this stage, Carroll’s out ’til God nows when and all our hopes are stacked up on Sak and Ayew.
January is going to be fun isn’t it if either of them are injured again but I hope that someone somewhere can pull the sort of rabbits out of the that happened last summer.
Slaven says it takes a year for a foreigner to settle in so I seriously hope a decent Premier League front man has already been identified and talks are underway.
Truth is this summer’s signings have been as poor as last season’s were great – one decent striker signing in the January window however could yet sort out our season.
In the meantime two wins have put the smile back in place…on to Wednesday and how big would a victory over Chelsea be right now!
perhaps they will swap Zaza for Icardi. He gets 1 goal in 2 games regularly.
….. and thats against the best defences in the world in Italy.
Strikers traditionally cost more.
15m, 92 matches missed, 24 goals in 4 seasons, 6 year contract and 85k a week! Not just this year that the inflated prices for vastly overrated players has happened is it?
Dead right about Zaza, he has been a shocking failure and it worries me tgat Slaven keeps ‘bigging him up’ and going on about it taking a yearfor a foreign player to settle into our League – I just can’t see anything in him apart from him being livelier than when he first appeared – he’s not big, he’s not quick, his control is poor, he hasn’t got a trick – he is truly shocking!
As for Calleri and you saying he’s not ready – will he ever be ready? He’s like the Invisible Man, they announce he’s coming on but he never does anything!
I’ve been thinking about which British based player they could go, I know it’s a bit left field but the one that came to mind was Troy Deeney from Watford but hey, what do I know!
Troy Deeney would have been a good signing, he has had numerous offers to leave Watford but he is happy there and even when Leicester bid 30M for him in the summer he still stayed so I doubt even if we could agree a fee he would leave. As for Zaza and Ayew fees, this as mentioned is all down to the TV money, thereality is a player that would have cost £5 – 8 million is now worth 20 ish, I am still hopeful with Zaza and it’s unfair to judge Ayew the mistake with him was not signing him on a free the season before…
Troy Deeney is a good signing if our ambitions are to be a mid table club. But the owners keep talking about how they want us to be a top 4 club. If that’s the case they will need better than Deeney and will have to find more gems like Payet and Lanzini. It seems to me we need to improve our scouting network. I agree on it being unfair to judge Ayew though.
What I like about Deeney apart from his strong play is that he’s a real leader and we could do with a strong personality in the Team – it’s just a thought!
not sure the West Ham players or fans would warm to him after his comments abut us a few weeks back.
Both Payet and Lanzini are examples of finding gems, very cheaply. Whilst I agree that Zaza has been poor and I had my doubts before we brought him in, he must have been doing something right to play for Italy. With this in mind you could argue £20m is actually cheap for an Italian international. His poor form may simply be down to the tactics used. As for Ayew, he was Swansea’s best player by a mile last year and tore us to shreds. £20m would be the going rate for such a player but it is extremely frustrating to pay that amount of money when we could have got him for nothing the season before. Icardi’s name is being mentioned as a possible target and would dearly love him to see him in a West Ham shirt but I’m pretty sure he has a £99m buyout clause so, even with his current club problems, we could never afford him. If we really do have aspirations of getting into the Champions League we need to be spending £30m-£50m on players regularly as well as having an excellent scouting program and ensuring players like Reece Oxford stay at West Ham.
I reckon we got exceptionally lucky in our transfer dealings last year. What other clubs could claim to have secured players with the skill levels of Payet and Lanzini for £18m? And maybe lucky is the wrong word – maybe brilliant scouting? But either way it’s probably harsh to compare the two. Ayew could yet turn out to be a gem of a signing so lets not get down on him just yet. The guy deserves our full support, even if he was a little costly. Now had we got him on a free last year, so Payet, Lanzini and Ayew for a combined £18m then we could celebrate big time! Zaza, you’ve got a point, but maybe not yet too late to cut our losses? Problem is AC ain’t the answer. Deeney is a good shout but not the youngest. doesn’t leave much from the PL that would sign. Maybe we could stop kids sitting behind the goals and give James Collins a try?