Forum | General Discussion

West Ham United are preparing to do what most other clubs do when there is a lower league club in crisis, hover around and pick off their best players at bargain basement prices. Such is the case with the Irons pursuit and interest in Wigan Athletic's centre back Cedric Kipre. Kipre moved from PSG to Leicester in 2014 before being released after three years and joining Motherwell, described as a natural footballer but a relatively late developer, Kipre found life very hard at Leicester as he was still developing physically from a skinny less than 6' 0" waif in to the 6'3" powerhouse that he is now.

Wigan are entering administration as per the club’s announcement just days ago, meaning their best players will be sold off for cheap this summer, and while the administrators are tasked with getting 'top dollar' for the best players available, they are NOT instructed to include brinkmanship in their negotiations with interested parties, consequently deals can go through a lot faster and with fewer complications.

Kipre is 23 years old and has already played over 70 times for Wigan since joining from Motherwell, although born in France he is eligible to play for the Ivory Coast and is still able to choose either country. It is believed his 'dual' entitlement is attractive to UK suitors because it means that he doesn't necessarily have to go off to play in the African Cup of Nations. West Ham are not alone in their interest, but it seems that David Moyes' propensity for buying young players and actually playing them is reaping great rewards when it comes to the club's recruitment, so there's a rare positive for the manager!

If Hammers can land Kipre for a bargain price it may sound alarm bells among fans fearing the potential departure of either Declan Rice, Issa Diop or both! However Fabian Bulbuena is probably the player who might be sold off as opposed to the other two centre backs, but it should also be remembered that Angelo Ogbonna, signed from Juventus five years ago and who is line to be voted this season's Hammer of the year, is not getting any younger at 32 years old and is approaching the stage where players start to pick up long term injuries.

Without Ogbonna the Hammers defence looks rickety to say the least, so it is entirely logical to seek a player to fill the ranks, that said Balbuena has done little wrong when playing at the back, and in an ideal world his services will be retained. The irony of the situation is that fans have great expectations at the beginning of each season, and if the club can survive the current relegation battle the first thing on the agenda will be to build a squad capable of competing across the board, and of course that means having strength in depth, an asset not seen at the club since 'H's 'down to the bare bones' philosophy.

Redknapp would regularly 'tweek' the owners at the time in order to ensure he had plenty of 'bodies' available, a policy that generally worked well. Moyes does have a unique opportunity to raise the bar while getting rid of a lot of the deadwood at the club, and if he is supported in his quest to acquire younger and hungrier players there is no reason that West Ham, United cannot emerge from the 'fug' that has hung over most of the club's transfer dealings of the past.

Admittedly the signing of Jordan Hugill did not exactly instill confidence in Moyes' ability to spot a bargain, but he has more than made up for that 'error of judgment by bringing in Jarred Bowen and Tomas Soucek, the latter on loan at the moment but the deal to make the transfer permanent will definitely happen so long as the club stays in the Barclays Premier League.

Two further wins and a draw will be enough to survive, although there is the prospect that the final game of the season could have an awful lot riding on it. One player who has not been available since project restart began is Robert Snodgrass who picked up a bad back injury but is likely to be available fort he last game, which is of course against Aston Villa, the club he spent a very successful spell with on loan from the Irons, the Villa fans loved him and had they got promoted that year instead of the next they would surely have signed the Scotsman. It would be typical of 'football heartbreak' if he were to be the one to put the 'final nail in the coffin' of a club he clearly still has a great affinity for! - Ed

Top flight teams regularly send players out on loan, usually young, they are loaned out to gain valuable first team experience, the recipient club benefit by having a player that they normally couldn't afford, the parent club from the player's development.

Sometimes though it can be a case of a club cutting it's losses on a player who hasn't performed as they should, or for a player in a position where there are two or three others ahead of them, usually as a result of 'top heavy' squad recruitment.

West Ham United, as is often the case, manage to tick all the above mentioned boxes with regards to sending players out on loan, but at an incredible loss financially. Normally clubs will pay between 50-100% of a players wages, and sometimes have to pay a loan fee as well, however the Irons don't do things that way anymore.

Winston Reid still has two full years remaining on his lucrative contract but Sporting Kansas City the club he is on loan with pay only $20,000 per week for his services with West Ham paying the other 80%! In addition,West Ham continue to pay 75% of Roberto’s £30,000 per week wages and it is thought this arrangement would need to continue for another season loan deal to be concluded. Having conceded 8 goals in two games it is amazing that they are prepared to pay anything at all, at least he is consistent....

Hammers also pay half of Jordan Hugill's wages while he is at QPR, the other players out on loan are young and the club would not expect any significant financial return, players like Grady Diangana, Josh Cullen and Nathan Holland are one of the few bright lights in what has been a thoroughly dreadful season and are the future of the club.

Handing out long contracts to players approaching 30 years of age or more tends to come back and bite, and in West Ham United's case the club is now forking out huge sums of money for players who will never play for the club again, surely it is just better to pay them off, or at least make them an offer they 'can't refuse'. West Ham as a club have top six potential on every metric fans, turnover, transfer spend, wages, location and stadium capacity, but have finished there just once in 34 years, if the club were run professionally things might have been different, as it is ironically the greatest obstacle for West Ham is the owners, because they are FANS!

The owners are simply not wealthy enough to bank roll the club more than they already have, previous owners were even worse! It may be part of the old West Ham curse, first the Cairnes, then Brown, and then the Icelandics, all of whom have screwed the club over either by mistake or design.

The club's current business plan is not sustainable, and things have moved on, surely the time is fast approaching for the owners to sell up, possibly retaining a token share holding, in order for this great club to finally fulfill it's potential. - Ed

Ever since his £17.5 Million transfer from Borussia Dortmund, striker Andriy Yarmolenko has rather flattered to deceive whilst picking up over £110,000 pw.
The 30 year old Ukranian signed a four year deal which expires in 2022, he made his debut on the 12th of August in the 4–0 defeat to Liverpool. He made a couple of lively contributions to the team, including a lovely brace in the 3-1 away victory over Everton, unfortunately he then succumbed to the Hammers injury curse by suffering an Achilles tear on the 20th of October 2018 in the 1–0 loss to Tottenham which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.

In all Yarmolenko has only managed 25 first team appearances, scoring 5 goals in the process, not a very handsome return for the fiscal outlay involved, the wisdom of signing an injury prone player yet again not sinking in! Had it not been for Jack Wilshere's dreadfully injury hit time a the club Yarmolenko's 'plight' might have sounded the alarm bells ringing earlier.

The big Leningrad born striker/winger has never returned to full match fitness because both David Moyes and his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini were both reluctant to 'risk' such a fine player until fully fit! Had it not dawned on them that to get match fit you have to play games? So with the club fighting a relegation battle that will go down to the wire, why not risk playing Yarmolenko in more than just a cameo role?

Despite playing with all his heart, Michail Antonio is not a striker, and in the continued absence of record signing Sebastian Haller, someone needs to step up to the plate and score goals. On his day Andriy Yarmolenko can be an elegant player with a lethal finish, but there is no point in 'saving him for later', because later is here, and now, and rather ugly!

There are rumours that 'Yarmo' is not being played in order to ensure he is fit enough to sell, if that is the case then that would be a mistake, mind you similar rumours abound regarding Seb Haller as well. What is the point of all this saving players for later? Sort things out now and THEN start thinking about what next, instead of thinking about what next and doing nothing.

The relegation precipice is there for all to see, unless radical action is taken it will be West Ham United going over the edge, risk Yarmo against Chelsea? You betcha...Ed