Forum | General Discussion

Disturbing reports emerged at the beginning of the transfer window linking West Ham United with a move for ex-Manchester City star Ya Ya Toure, presumably due to the fact that the two of them worked successfully at the Etihad, but that was a long time ago. Long suffering Hammers fans assumed, incorrectly as it is, that it was going to be more same old same old lots of promises made 90% of which are broken, fortunately and not in too small measure because of the presence of Manuel Pellegrini and Mario (the huse) Husillo, this season's player recruitment has been nothing short of astonishing.

We have previously gone in to the reasons why the club are able to 'splash the cash' much more freely this season than those that preceded it, but now they have recovered from losing their 'pay day loan' facility it is a case of onwards and upwards following the arrivals of Andriy Yarmolenko, Issa Diop, Ryan Fredericks, Lukasz Fabianski, Jack Wilshere, Fabian Balbuena and as will be confirmed later today that of Felipe Anderson in a transfer breaking record move from Lazio.

The apparently self inflicted injuries to Andy Carroll and Winston Reid have somewhat blotted what was an otherwise immaculate copy book, everything that went wrong during last season's recruitment has been going right during this one's, so the rumours that are again circulating with regards to Ya Ya Toure linking up with his old mucker El Pel are being received with shock, surely Ya Ya must be a No No for a West Ham side looking to exploit their new youth, vigour and talent.

While no one can doubt how brilliant, if a little churlish Toure has been as a player, he is exactly that, a has been! Last season resembled a senior citizen reunuion at the London Stadium on some occasions with the club having the second oldest squad in the Barclays Premier League, only West brom had an older squad and everyone knows what happened to them, they will now be paying the price as they fight to get out of the Championship or the EFL as it likes to be known.

Having ticked all the right boxes so far, it would be a really gross mistake to undo much of the excellent forward thinking work that has been done by taking a step back to the past, Ya Ya will find a club no problem, but please let it not be West Ham United. - Ed

Drum roll, West Ham United’s new Head of Medical, Richard Collinge, is providing his update as the first team squad prepare to wrap up their pre season training camp in Switzerland, and all seems good. “All in all, the training camp has been a very productive one and the players have responded very well to the programme that has been scheduled for the first phase of pre-season,” he says. “We have had a variety of physical work, either side of the opening warm-up match against FC Winterthur on Sunday, with every session planned meticulously and the rest and recovery between training also monitored carefully. “The new players have settled in very well. Jack Wilshere has obviously been with us for just a few days and so has followed a slightly different programme, but he will step things up next week. “We have also welcomed back Marko Arnautovic during the trip, and Michail Antonio has been taking part in full training with the rest of the squad so generally things have been going well.” Collinge has enjoyed a busy and intensive start to life with the Hammers.

Unfortunately, it is not all good news on the injury front, with both Andy Carroll and Winston Reid having to return early to London after suffering setbacks in their respective recoveries from injury, which will keep the pair out for a minimum of three months each. Collinge said: “Andy played and scored in Sunday’s match but is still reporting some discomfort in his ankle and further scans have revealed that he requires some minor surgery to provide more strength and stability to the area. Now call it writers curse or whatever but we had only recently espoused the possibility that Big Andy would actually be fit at the beginning of the season for the first time in six years! His travel agent was wondering where his next rolex was coming from without his annual exclusive holiday booking for 'Geordie Boy' and his cute missus, I mean after all that's what happens when the footie season is just about to start isn't it? Big Andy gets injured!

Well at least that is one square peg that Pellegrini doesn't have to fit in to a round hole, but with "Winnie' needing to go under the knife as well, one can imagine that a certain Mr Sullivan will be sweating about the coffers of the club. Both Winston Reid and Andy Carroll had been earmarked for departure, their combined sales could have yielded around £20 Million at the least, which is about exactly the same amount as the 'black hole' created by the Club's near £90 Million expenditure assuming the Felipe 'Gone with the wind' Anderson transfer saga finally gets over the line.

It looks as if the January transfer window will be the time to sell both players, Carroll will be in the last year of his contract and will hopefully get moved on to a 'no reserve' purchaser who gets carried away! 'Winny' is a different story, he has a couple of years left on his good money contract and might want to 'fight for his place', unfortunately his inury record just keeps getting worse, partly due to his 'Maori Warrior' attitude, which while endeering to the fans is an approach that cannot be continued in to the twilight of a player's career without the risk of picking up an increasing amount of injuries as is the case with Reid.

Expect plenty of 'positive' recovery stories about the duo on the club's official website, but there will be more than a bit of Bernard Mathews in the sentiment of the coverage! - Ed
PS: Have been prompted to 'educate' those who aren't of a certain age that Bernard Mathews was known as the 'Turkey' Man, hence the 'preparing the players' ahead of The New Year reference!