Tah Very Much!

With the Season only just started and the transfer window still open, talks of dodging a bullet might seem a bit dramatic, but that is exactly what appears to have happened to West Ham United in the last 24 Hours!

The club looked to have 'pulled the plug' on spending £30 Million with Manchester United for Harry Maguire due to the amount of time the deal has taken and the fact that there are STILL fiscal anomalies that have to be thrashed out between the player and his parent club.

With only a couple of weeks remaining before the window 'slams shut', Hammers have decided to move 'swiftly on' by firming up their previous interest in Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah. Obviously Tim Steidten has connections at Leverkusen, which is why a 'club insider' is quoted as saying that they have great confidence that they will have a younger central defender in place within the next 71 hours!

Notice the 71 Hours reference, not 72 Hours. Steidten will have been 'waiting to pounce' as soon as it became inevitable that a different target had to be landed and would have been well prepared for ALL eventualities.
If the 'much younger player' does turn out to be Jonathan Tah then it shouldn't be too much of a disappointment for David Moyes, because Tah is a player that Moyes has admired in the past and could his signing could be seen as a joint operation between himself and Ze German.

Jonathan Tah has been at Bayer Leverkusen since 2015, the Ivorian Coast defender is a tall tough player who has plenty of European football experience, he HAS expressed a desire to play in the Premier League and doesn't look like the sort of player who would get bullied easily on his arrival.

This deal really could get done in principle really quickly, although 'cash rich' Hammers will be wary of having the price jacked up just because it is them that are buying!

Tah represents smart business, available for around £25 Million, on wages that won't exceed £125,000 per week and on a four year contract, meaning he would have a sell on value that Maguire would never have. Top player, half the wages, with a valuable sell on, what could be wrong with that?

Well, the only fly in the ointment would be the Africa Cup of Nations or whatever it is going to be renamed as this year. Hammers will already be without Aguard and Benrahma who will doubtless 'run long' in the tournament! It is the same for other teams, they just have to plan in advance.

On behalf of all those fans dreading a Maguiresignign we would like to say " Tah very much" to whoever pulled the plug! - Ed