Forum | General Discussion

The final piece of the Jigsaw is being sought by West Ham United as they attempt to construct the finest 'ghost squad' in the Barclays Premier League, European qualification is already guaranteed this early in the season and it is all but agreed that the club should push for the World Ghost Squad finals such is the belief in the 'team', the only vacant berth is in the goalkeeping area!

Hammers impressive line up includes Ryan Fredericks, Sam Byram, Winston Reid, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Nathan Holland, Andrily Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini, Xande Silva and Andy Carroll, all that is missing is a keeper with a long term injury and the club will be set to compete. Really there are very few clubs who can compete with West Ham for ghost squads and of course some of the 'big' clubs are already sniffing around to see if they can pick up an outrageously over priced over paid injury prone casualty, but the Hammers hierarchy are having none of that.

An 'insider' was quoted as saying "the club has spent years and years building up such a magnificent bunch of failures, failure doesn't come cheap you know", they continued by saying "It is our intention to hold on to our injured players and that is that, the players are going nowhere!" The 'insideher' went on to say " furthermore it is our intention to recruit al least one more injury prone player, Sami Nasri, during the January window, and possibly one or two more, after all there is a lot to be said for having strength in depth for our ghost squad, we are very proud of what we have achieved and will continue in the same direction for the forseeable future".

And who said Hammers can't do things properly? - Ed

With the exception of Europe's elite clubs, many of which are rumoured to be questionably funded, there are few teams if any that can afford to pay a player £7 Million per year in wages and yet only use them very sparingly. Javier Hernandez arrived from Bayer Leverkusen for a £16 Million fee but on enormous wages, he has barely been used by initially Slaven Billic, then David Moyes and now present manager Manuel Pellegrini. Admitedly 'Chicharito's' options to start matches this season have been extremely limited this season due to a severe bout of flu that turned into glandular fever, a debilitating virus that could put even the best of athletes on their back.

The lengthy recovery time involved after his bout of glandular fever meant that Hernadez was unavailable when most needed by Pellegrini, the Chilean had to look elsewhere within his squad to fill the void and as has rapidly become the norm dipped in to the rich vein of talent available in the youth set up.

There are so many exciting players champing at the bit make the step up to the next level that Pellegrini is spoiled for choice, youngsters have seen that the club's manager appointed in the summer is keen to bring youth on and is not afraid to give them a chance as is clearly visible with the intergration of Declan Rice and Grady Diagana in to the first team as well as Coventry and Powell being added to the bench, there is also great anticipation as to how he uses Xande Silva and Nathan Holland once they have recovered from their respective injuries.

The numbers just don't add up when it comes to Javier Hernandez at West Ham and surely it is time for the club to cash in on the highly paid forward, his age is against him and he really doesn't seem to fit the Pellegrini 'template' of a player, and anyway El Pel has adopted Robert Snodgrass as his 'golden oldie', and given the amount of effort and apptitude the Scottish international has shown of late the right decision appears to have been made. It should be remebered that Hernadez receives more money per week than Felipe Anderson and Robert Snodgrass combined, and that is even before we discuss Declan Rice's wages!

So where does Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez go? Well according to his agent he is set for either a loan spell or permanent transfer in January to a 'prominent' La Liga team, there are only nine teams in Spain who could possibly afford the Mexican striker and they are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Deportivo de La Coruña and Real Betis. Given the fair play issues as wll as form it is unlikely that either Real or Barca would have any interest leaving a choice of one of the other listed clubs, none of which are cash rich.

Despite his past credibility, Hernandez has become a financial liability, one that may see West Ham having to supplement his wages if he goes out on loan! The fact is his transfer has been little short of an unmitigated disaster, the sooner he, Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere are off the books the better, there surely must be better options available, the three players mentioned are on a combined total of over £400,000 per week, that's over £20 Million per annum for bench warmers and perenial attendees of the medical centre, no wonder there is no more money available that is a sizeable chunk of money for any club, particularly for one that DOES'NT cheat the FFP rules, perhaps one of those clubs can use their ill gotten funding to take these three of the club's books. - Ed