Midnight on July 16th Central Chinese time marked the end of the Chinese Football federation's transfer window, and as such removes one major cash endowed player from the lunacy that is going on in the European transfer window! Quite how much the emerging Chinese super league is effecting the fees being commanded by players and their agents is difficult to quantise, but there has undoubtedley been a a seismic shift when it comes to football's economic power houses. Some argue that these developments are a good thing, whereas others can only see a financial bubble bursting (excuse bubble negative) League artificially propped up by corporations, where grounds are hardly full, and gaming and betting is of far more interest to the general public who of course still have saturated Barclays Premier League footage provided by a myriad of suppliers.
West Ham United, as well as just about every other leading club nestling below the super rich, will be breathing a sigh of relief that (a) none of their star players have been lured away by the promises of massive wages despite the obvious draw backs involved in relocating families etc, but (b) that now 'The Chinese' are out of the picture until the winter, clubs will be able to negotiate transfers without agents being able to play the Eastern trump card (not the conceited psychopathic american presidential hopeful type).
It seems that the old 'ball park' figure for players has gone completely out the window, and Hammers are no such exception when it comes to business, rumours of a plus £65 Million bid for James Rodriguez from spanish giants Real Madrid are not far off the mark, "you have to be in it to win it" being the current adage, West Ham United will need to invest massively just to stand still, their first opponents in the forthcoming league programme, Chelsea, are a case in point, they have already snapped up one Irons target and are sniffing after another. They along with Manchester United are exhibiting an unhealthy interest in Hammers starlet Reece Oxford, holding on to your future stars can be as important as any future acquisitions, it is a difficult balancing act but one that Slaven Billic and the Hammers hierarchy will have to manage! - Ed
