As we reported back on the 6th of June, Jack Wilshere's move away from Arsenal to West Ham United has been sanctioned by Manuel Pellegrini, and now that head of recruitment Mario Husillos has rubber stamped the deal there is just a bit of toing and froing connected to performance related payments to iron out. The 'Andy Carroll experience', coupled with the Kieron Dyer 'sickness show' that preceeded it, has cast a long shadow over a club with relatively limited resources such as West Ham, so there are many who would say signing the injury prone Wilshere is a terrible risk and one that the club cannot afford. Indeed Wilshere's injury record is poor, however he played 40 games for Arsenal in all competitions last season and nearly as many when he was on loan to Bournemouth during the previous season, so hopefully his injury issues are a thing of the past.
In addition to Jack Wilshere the chances are Inter Milan's Antonio Candreva will be donning a different jersey next season and West Ham have emerged as the leading candidates to acquire the midfielder as Manuel Pellegrini looks to boost the squad that just managed to achieve a 13th place finish in the Barclays Premier League, conceding the league's worst 68 goals in the process. Hammers have a good relationship with Inter and have established the sort of mutual trust essential when it comes to the sort of transfers that these days are huge compared to the past. As we reported recently head of recruitment Mario Husillos has already made contact with Inter regarding the potential signing on loan for a further year of João Mário.
West Ham are a distant 40/1 at William Hill and other sportsbooks reviewed here to finish in the top four, and will need Candreva, Wilshere and likely at least a couple more upgrades in order to get anywhere near their first ever Champions League spot. Four of the club's first six matches are against Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Everton, Hammers will find themselves out of the race early if they don't find a way to generate more chances and assists for the strikers up top, who ever they may eventually be.
Would Hammer's be seeking a deal for Jack Wilshere if Manuel Lanzini hadn't picked up a potentially season ending injury? highly unlikely, but given the recovery time for Lanzini's injury even with the most optomistic prognosis is at least six months the need for an attacking creative midfielder is paramount. Like for like Wilshere is very similar to Lanzini and despite the injury risk is definitely worth a punt even if it means commiting the club to a possible outlay of £15 Million in wages over a three year contract, with no transfer fee being paid it could represent a great bit of business and as the media have reminded us relentlessly he comes from a West Ham supporting family with club connections and supported the club as a youngster himself.
When he arrived at the London Stadium Manuel Pellegrini stated that he wanted to bring in 'four or five' players, well he has already brought in Ryan Fredericks, Lukcas Fabianski and Isso Diop, however one feels he was actually referring to bringing in 'four or five' first team players. Doing the Maths, and even footballers are quite good at that especially when it comes to calculating their wages, it would seem that one of or all of the following players will be looking over their shoulders!
We will keep you posted for when the deal is actually signed for one or both of Candreva Or Wilshere. - Ed
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