A Costly Victory- Again! Hunt For Right Back Begins

The managers of most Premier League clubs bemoaned the amount of games their team's have to play during the festive period, the combination of playing so many matches and having to travel to and from them in such a short space of time can really rack up injuries, especially if the team is involved in more than one competition.

So it is almost de rigueur for West Ham United, a club famous for it's academy and for it's ability to sign injury prone players, to pick up at least one serious injury per game! Which is exactly what happened during Hammers' tense FA Cup 3rd round victory at Priestfield against a very well organised Gillingham side, and of course it had to be in a position where the squad lacks cover.

Ryan Fredericks, who has made the right back berth his own with a series of decent displays, is the latest to succumb to injury, pulling his hamstring during the first half, having to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta. As it turns out 'Zaba' managed to score his first goal for the Irons, after 74 games, and put in a fine performance, but his legs can no longer do what his mind wants them to do.

So it should come as no shock that the club are considering a move for various right backs including free agent Mehdi Zeffane, the 27-year-old came through the academy system at Lyon but has been without a club since being released by Rennes, despite helping to win the French Cup last season, as well as the Africa Cup of Nations in the summer with Algeria. Zeffane started both the semi-final and the the final for Algeria, keeping Sadio Mane, among others, quiet in the competition last July.

Espanyol had been in talks with the player earlier in the season, but he prefers a move to the Barclays Premier League. As a free agent Zeffane can be signed at any point during the season irrespective of transfer windows, and at 27 is still in his prime, however certain questions have been raised as to why exactly Rennes let his contract run down, there are rumours that he can be a trouble maker.

Trouble maker or not, Hammers desperately need a right back, as the only cover for 'Zaba' in Fredericks' absence is Ben Johnson, but he too has hamstring issues, talk about 'Hamstrung United!'. - Ed