Only The Loan(ly)

Hammers are looking to sign ex Everton striker Henry Onyekuru on loan from Monaco, the cash strapped Ligue 1 club are prepared to let the 23 year old join the Irons on loan for a fee of £1.3 Million, a deal that would include a £4.9 Million option to buy in the summer. The Nigerian youngster spent two years with Everton but didn't even play one league game before moving to Monaco in 2019. He has only played eight games for the French club and spent last season on loan in Turkey with Galatasaray.

Onyekuru has 57 goals in 152 career games to his name which isn't a bad ratio, although the quality of the opponents faced is questionable. The Nigeria international is supposed to possess blistering pace, a quality that David Moyes looks for in his strikers. The small loan fee involved for Onyekuru does make signing him an attractive option, and if he proves to be a decent player, then to make the deal permanent for just under £5 Million in the summer would be a great bit of business.

Although most of the Barclays Premier League teams who are NOT owned by massive corporations, or indeed by entire nations, are pretty brassic at the moment, their plight pales in to insignificance when compared with those clubs in Ligue Une. The collapse of the massive TV deal that had been on the table has left clubs not only broke, but in serious danger of going to the wall financially, and unlike in the UK, the government in France will NOT be holding out a financial olive branch for the clubs affected by the TV debacle as well as the fiscal losses caused by the Covid epidemic.

Onyekuru has 57 goals in 152 career games to his name which isn't a bad ratio, although the quality of the opponents faced is questionable. The Nigeria international is supposed to possess blistering pace, a quality that David Moyes looks for in his strikers. The small loan fee involved for Onyekuru does make signing him an attractive option, and if he proves to be a decent player, then to make the deal permanent for just under £5 Million in the summer would be a great bit of business.

Although most of the Barclays Premier League teams who are NOT owned by massive corporations, or indeed by entire nations, are pretty brassic at the moment, their plight pales in to insignificance when compared with those clubs in Ligue Une. The collapse of the massive TV deal that had been on the table has left clubs not only broke, but in serious danger of going to the wall financially, and unlike in the UK, the government in France will NOT be holding out a financial olive branch for the clubs affected by the TV debacle as well as the fiscal losses caused by the Covid epidemic.

Henry Onyekuru may not be the most glamorous of options, but most Hammers fans would prefer a player who has fire in his belly and wants to come to the London Stadium as opposed to a player who only views West Ham as a stepping stone to the 'bigger clubs'!

The irony being that, whisper it quietly, West Ham are now being referred to as 'tough opponents' when pundits discuss upcoming fixtures for Barclays Premier league teams, including Liverpool! Now who would have thought that after watching the dismal home defeat to Newcastle in the season's opening fixture? - Ed