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Spanish La Liga side Sevilla are set to confirm the signing of Javier Hernandez from West Ham United either this evening or first thing tomorrow, the player quietly flew in to Jerez airport on friday in a private executive jet ahead of his medical, which he duly completed. Hernandez's departure was kick started by the player handing in a written request to leave the club he joined for £15 Million two and a half years ago.

Hernandez played a total of 55 games scoring 16 times for the Hammers, which is a decent return, however the players crippling £140,000 per week wages meant the goals to cost ratio was poor. Sevilla will be getting Chicharito on the cheap, around €8 Million when all is said and done, but the opportunity to offload a player who has only ten months left on their contract, and removing their salary from the wages bill was too good for the Hammers hierarchy to resist, saving the club £6.5 Million in wages alone!

Manuel Pellegrini was not deeply enamoured with the prospect of losing Hernandez, especially bearing in mind Michail Antonio's recent serious injury, however the manager also wanted to avoid the sort of toxic environment created in the dressing room when one of the club's 'stars' are unhappy, as was the case with Marko Arnautovic and Dimitri Payet before him. To be fair though, Hernandez has gone about his business, through his agents, in a straight forward and correct way, which is why the player deserves to leave on a good footing.

Henandez's departure will be less 'scowling' than that of Arnautovic, the additional funds generated can only be used to acquire players who are available on a free transfer and will therefore probably be kept in the kitty ahead of the January window when there are few bargains to be had, but having the ability to steam in will be beneficial should the club need to bring in reinforcements.

One bonus factor created by the Mexican International's departure will be the freeing up of one squad space, which unless the club are stupid will be filled by one of the academy's up and coming youngsters, this will help the home grown balance factor. With Grady Diangana scoring for fun while on loan at Slaven Billic's West Brom, the club have a good few months to asses whether to exercise their right to bring the exciting young forward back to the London Stadium during the January transfer window.

Hammers fans will wish Javier Hernandez well for the future, things never really worked out for him but at least he didn't openly disrespect the team or his manager. Goodbye Javier, but definitely not good riddance! We wish you well - Ed

It seems that West Ham United and Javier Hernandez are destined not to part company until the player has run the last year down on his incredibly lucrative £140,000 per week deal. Sevilla have been courting the Mexican striker all of the transfer window and were anticipating a cut price or even loan deal just ahead of the window closing on September the 3rd.

Hammers quite rightly stuck to their guns insisting the player can leave, but not for less than €10 Million, Sevilla initially offered €6 Million but then increased their offer to €8 Million, unfortunately the day their offer was made was the same day Michail Antonio sustained his hamstring injury, the true extent of which is as yet unknown, but no one is holding much hope that it is not as serious as it first looked.

Antonio's injury means that Hammers would technically only have Sebastian Haller and the inexperienced Albian Ajeti as their strike force should the club sell Hernandez. Of course there are youngsters such as Nathan Holland to fill the void although the general consensus is that the Barclays Premier League is too harsh an environment to throw young players in to, and of course there are others who say if you are good enough you are old enough!

The wisdom of sending Grady Diangana on loan to Slaven Billic's West Brom can be called in to question, however that is with the benefit of hindsight. The reality is Hammers will now have to continue paying Hernandez's wages for the foreseeable future as well as taking a hit on any money recouped as a transfer fee. That is unless Hammers bite the bullet and risk being left light up front, Diangana can be recalled in January but it is still a bit of a punt, maybe one that Manuel Pellegrini is reluctant to take.

Should Chicharito be in the starting line up or on the bench for today's game against newly promoted Norwich City, then it is safe to assume his services will have been retained, at least until January, should he not make the squad he will almost definitely be on his way out of the London Stadium. - Ed
We'll have all the team new directly from the stadium as soon as it is accessible.

By lunch time today the West Ham United medical team will more than likely confirm a lengthy spell in the treatment room for Michail Antonio, just how long will be determined by a full scan today. Things are not looking too promising though, according to the vast majority of those who know and understand football injuries, the damage done to Antonio's hamstring could be really extensive.

A few years ago Antonio did suffer a similar injury to his other hamstring which eventually required surgery, unfortunately the damage sustained to his hamstring in the first five minutes of the EFL cup tie against Newport County looks to be even worse!

At the very best we are looking at a minimum of six weeks out, but if the hamstring is snapped it will require full surgery, potentially ruling out the dynamic attacker for up to six months. The Hammers injury curse is alive and well thank you very much, whether it was based at Chadwell Heath or newly installed at Rush Green, or in Antonio's case Rodney Parade.

There is no point in crying over spilled milk, Antonio's injury has happened, he will be a big miss but the team have to move on. Although he has looked well off the game pace since returning from his own long term injury, Andrily Yarmolenko could fill the void left by Antonio. Yarmolenko's style of play is different, he prefers to cut in on his left foot from the right side of the pitch as opposed to just steamrolling forward.

Injuries are part of the modern day game, it's just a pity that Hammers are 'more modern' than other clubs, fingers will be crossed ahead of Antonio's scan, but the news is either going to be bad, or awful. - Ed

Despite the attendance of Sky TV for what the Broadcaster hoped would be a giant killing, West Ham United emerged as fairly comfortable winners in the tricky Carabao Cup tie away to Newport County.

Unfortunately victory came at some cost, Hammers' seemingly perpetual injury curse 'kicked' in within less than five minutes as Michail Antonio pulled up short, from what was West Ham's first attacking move of the evening, clutching his hamstring. The speed with which the forward pulled up was alarming, so much so that those in the know have already consigned hopes of a quick recovery to the back burner, two weeks is wildly optimistic, six to eight weeks is the general consensus although it could be even longer if tests confirm he has actually snapped his hamstring, if that is the case the player will have to have an operation which will see him unavailable for up to four months.

Losing the services of Antonio is not a catastrophe for Manuel Pellegrini, but it is certainly a great inconvenience, Antonio had created a new niche for himself, carefully nurtured by 'Pelle', as a super energetic super 'half time' substitute, and it worked a treat last week against Watford.

The only consolation for West Ham fans is that there are definitely a few players available to fill Antonio's 'copious' boots, whereas last season there would not have been. Pablo Fornals looks ready to step up to the plate, and Albian Ajeti didn't look out of place, but then again it was a match against a team 59 places below the Irons.

Tuesday evening represented a difficult hurdle to overcome, Leicester and Tottenham will testify as to just how difficult! Hammers go in to the hat for the next round, it's a pity how much it cost. - Ed

*A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ ( listen) PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.