It's Been A 'Haller' Of A Shocker!

In a similar way to the customer who walks in to a car showroom and leaves having spent twice their original budget, West Ham United are now having to deal with the excesses of the'Pellegrini' era, none more so than the 'Hall' of a deal that was negotiated to bring Sebastien Haller to the London Stadium. Fair play to Eintrecht Frankfurt for not only getting double Haller's value, but also for being able to sell his ex-team mate to Real Madrid for an equally exorbitant fee, both players have failed miserably at their respective clubs and have now seen their values at least halved within just over 12 months!

There is no way of putting a positive spin on the situation, and irrespective of who was to blame, the end result is a 'Hall' of a mess. It will be absolutely impossible to recoup the eye watering £45 Million paid, or nearly paid, for Sebastien Haller with a further £10 Million still owed on the deal. The Irons will be fortunate to get £30 MIllion for the french striker in the current climate, and by factoring in the debt still owed the figures don't make good reading, far from it.

The one ray of light in the situation is that Haller's manager while he was at Frankfurt, ‎Niko Kovač, is now the manager at Monaco who are having a 'clear out' of up to nine players, apparently a good chunk of the funds are being earmarked to bring Haller to the Stade Louis II, such a move would make sense for all parties if a deal can be arranged. However Hammers will take a bath when it comes to the final figures, a salient lesson learned that if you play with the 'big boys', you risk getting your back side kicked!

The one course of action that can be controlled by David Moyes, is to make sure a similar mistake cannot ever occur again, and to that purpose talk of signing Haller's old team mate, Luka Jović, should set alarm bells ringing. Both players have endured a torrid time at their new clubs, confirming that as a 'pair' they are superb, but individually they don't cut the mustard. IF Moyes and the hierarchy can't shift Haller due to his massive price tag then a loan move for Jović might make sense, particularly if as has been suggested Felipe Anderson might go to Real Madrid.

This last option is the result of the club having it's hands tied due to the Covid-19 fall out, and the 'Pellegrinophile's' dreadful fiscal profligacy, there is literally no room for movement , just like the old gem puzzles from back in the day. Little or no room for manoeuvre! - Ed