One of Manuel Pellegrini's more salient observations regarding West Ham during his ill fated tenure was that the club needed to start thinking and believing it was a bigger club. He was correct, unfortunately his remedy was to throw VAST amounts of cash at the problem, and we all know how that ended don't we?
Having had their hands 'incinerated' by Pellegrni and Housillos's profligacies, the Irons board have understandably been reluctant to go down the same route again. However the club MUST avoid having a knee jerk reaction that artificially influences their current transfer activities.
Hammers have been 'linked' with just about every striker with a pulse and somewhere even finding a pulse is difficult! The 'Seb Haller experience' traumatised the Irons hierarchy and fans alike, but rather like falling off a horse, the need to get back on or risk getting left by the wayside is paramount, so news filtering through of the club's interest in signing Patrik Schick is extremely encouraging.
Yes it WILL take a king's ransom in order to prise the 25 year old Czech International away from Bayer Leverkusen, a figure of around €45 Million is being mooted. That is a LOT of money, but it is LESS than the club spent on Haller AND not that much more than Felipe Anderson cost the club.
Capped 33 times by the Czech Republic, Schick has scored 18 goals in 16 starts so far this season and is the second top scorer in the Bundesliga, ahead of Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland and behind only Bayern Munich ace Robert Lewandowski.
The fact that Schick is good friends with fellow Czech Internationals Tomas Soucek, Vlad the Impaler AND Alex Kral is a real plus when it comes to attracting the striker to Stratford. Of course paying around £40 Million for just ONE player has great risks associated, Hammers DO have an atrocious record of buying expensive crocks however Schick is NOT a crock. That doesn't mean he isn't at risk of picking up an injury but so far in his career he has been relatively injury free although he DID lose 50 days off during the 2019/20 season with a repetitive ankle injury. At 25 years of age Schick is approaching his peak, which in business terms means that Hammers can sign him, get TWO superb years out of him and then have the option to sell him on at an enormous profit or retain him, IF he can become accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League.
Schick is the sort of signing Hammers SHOULD be making, not some old cast off looking for a final pay day, but a player in his prime who has the ability to do something special that others simply do not have in their locker, ask any Scotland fan what hey think about Schick's inventiveness!
Big clubs have to make big moves, they don't come much bigger than the proposed move for Schick and they don't come much better. - Ed
Comments
Why would Leverkusen sell?
They are in a good position to qualify for champions league so why gut your own side for a paltry£40/5million when the riches of the champions league would dwarf that.....And whilst i agree that if we want to be the big club we tout ourselves to be then we have to flex our muscles in the transfer market regardless of who else is interested in a player.....Right now we are a very attractive proposition and never mind that the barcodes have more money or the spuds interested in this player and they are a big club(lol) or the gooners to it is time to stop worrying and have a little go back....one things for sure if the Spuds are really interested in Traore from Wolves then i would do a Levy on em and declare an interest just so they would have to pay more a bit of revenge for what that S**T*Y clubs been doing to many down the years,....Also i want the club to stop saying things like the need for a backup striker to the Beast...no no no any player we buy has to have as much chance as any other player of making the starting eleven because unless there is real competition for places players become complacent and do not try as much as they should because of it...Regardless of who you are and what you bring to the side unless you pull your weight then its the bench for you if you deserve that! COYI lets be the big club we fans no we are or should that be MASSIVE
The club should defintely
The club should defintely overtly 'express an interest' in Traore in order to bump up the price Levy has to pay, after all he has done it to West Ham enough in the past, regularly!
You are correct about
You are correct about bringing in 'REAL' competition, you only have to look at how Fab has upped his game since the arrival of Areola.
Schick looks to be tried and
Schick looks to be tried and tested in the Euros. Certainly making an impression. However he is very much in the Haller mould in terms of physical attributes for my liking and that worries me greatly.