Forum | General Discussion

West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Soucek, Alvarez, Bowen (C), Kudus, Soler, Paqueta Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Ward-Prowse, Guilherme, Rodriguez, Todibo, Ferguson, Irving, Scarles

Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Van Den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Norgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard, Schade, Wissa, Mbuemo

Back in the 2023 season, Tim Steidten had started to take the reins in full force and ultimately decided that the next step for the club was to have a ‘feeder team’.

It was initially intended to be a deal that would result in the clubs having mutual benefits with each other, with an initial cash boost for the Austrian side, SK Austria Klagenfurt, and the intention that West Ham would send youth talents there to gain experience.

The cash boost for the Austrian side would total £1,470,000, which was provided to them through the player sale of Andy Irving to us.

Since Tim’s departure, it has been allegedly said that the Steidten deal with the Austrian side wasn’t totally legitimate and that perhaps something behind the scenes had occurred.

Nevertheless, before his move to West Ham, Andy Irving had spent his youth days at Hearts FC, which eventually led to attraction from Germany, where a move to Turkgucu Munchen on a free was sparked, but exactly a year later, he would go on to sign for Klagenfurt.

West Ham sparked a deal for the Scotsman on August 31st 2023; the club loaned him back to where he was bought from for the season, a very similar deal to our bizarre summer signing of Mohamadou Kante.

It is starting to seem like he was only signed so we could have the headline “West Ham United are pleased to announce the signing of Kante!”

At the beginning of the season, it became apparent that Andy Irving was starting to be involved within the squad for pre-season, which is worth noting as, surprisingly, Flynn Downes ended up having a shock move away from the club after a fee was agreed with Southampton, and supposedly Irvings performances had effects on the clubs decision to let Downes leave.

Irving would make his West Ham debut in a 3-0 loss against Chelsea at the London Stadium. He was substituted on in the 73rd minute, and despite the result, he turned heads with his stats as he’d achieved the best on the pitch within such a short period of time.

He would conveniently make his starting debut against Chelsea away at the Bridge. It did result in a 2-1 loss, but apart from the ludicrous decisions made that night, he was the hero.

Perhaps not the hero on the pitch, but he was the hero amongst the fans. His name was sung constantly throughout the 90, At points, the fans were signing “you’re only here to see the Irving”, as well as well… some other chants such as comparisons to Cole Palmer, to put it lightly.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, it was said that he is often one of the last players to leave after training. He’s also hired an athletic trainer to be successful in adapting to the Premier League at a quicker pace.

It is also said that his mindset he presents has made him a popular figure within the squad.

He might’ve joined us without an official announcement and through some alleged suspicious dealings, but he’s certainly becoming a fan favourite at a quick rate.

For the first time under Potter’s reign, West Ham received a week off from football after being knocked out of the FA Cup.

The breaks allowed our players to rest and recover while also letting us have a well-deserved break from all the abysmal decisions being made.

Despite it being a week off, I doubt it’s a quiet one.

Potter has been taking an interest in the under-18s after attending our victory against Manchester United on penalties to reach the FA Cup youth semi-final, a remarkable achievement and yet again emphasising how good our academy truly is.

Kyle, on the other hand, I could only assume that he’s out and about doing his homework and getting a move on with the summer ahead.

We’ve currently got three players in on loan, two of whom we have to decide on in the summer. Jean-Clair Todibo will sign for West Ham in the summer if all obligation clauses are fulfilled, and the final obligation to be completed is the need to avoid relegation.

Therefore, most likely, we will have the obligation fee triggered, which is reportedly £30,000,000.

Carlos Soler and Evan Ferguson are the other two loans we have. The club have held brief talks with PSG about the purchase of Carlos Soler, and it is around the £15,000,000 mark it would cost the club to sign him permanently..

Evan Ferguson is too early to call, but Brighton wanted £40,000,000 in January for him. Let’s see what that valuation is come summer time.

In addition to the expiring loans, we also have FIVE players who are out of contract.

Lucasz Fabianski, Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal and Danny Ings.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Cresswell’s time over at the club. Emerson has retained his starting Left-back position, and Ollie Scarles has been introduced since. However, he could well be kept due to leadership and how significant of a figure he is in the dressing room.

Big Micky will most likely be given another year’s contract. I’d suspect that to be the same for Fabo, but the idea of him hanging up his gloves could always happen, given his age and career.

Uncle Ingy’s only hope in receiving a new contract would be for him to accept a MASSIVE reduction, but I think for the greater good of the club as well as our souls, it’s time to close this chapter.

Vlad’s attracted a lot of attention elsewhere. Fenerbache have been long-term admirers of him, and Fulham had a deadline day offer declined for him.

Regarding the loans, we’ve got notably: Aguerd, Marshall, Potts and Earthy all returning, which gives us a big boost. It’d be expected for them all to be utilised or sold.

Potts is currently loving life in the Championship and currently holds the number one spot with the most ball recoveries in an opponent’s half, with 136. (U23s only).

He will surely be used next year after having two consecutive loans, proving himself in both.

But even with our return of loans, as well as some of our loans expiring, it’s going to be an active window, that’s for sure.

Numerous outgoings, as well as many incomings, need to be made if we truly want to steer this ship in the right direction.

Potter, Kyle and the rest of the crew have a big summer job on their hands, and despite our mass activity in the previous summer window… If you put two and two together, you can easily recognise that we, yet again, need a revitalisation of our defence most importantly.

Tough work for the pair of them, but given the loyalty they have, if anyone can help steer the ship in the right direction, it's Kyle.

It would be the first time in years that West Ham fans have felt so positive about a manager’s arrival, and all fans can see the vision Graham Potter is trying to get at and provide to the players as well as fans.

I’d predict that when the hiring opportunity for Potter came along, it was probably something along the lines of “You’ll have minimal money because Looney Lop spent it all in the summer, and your only goal this season is to keep us up… fancy joining?”. Remarkably, he said yes.

Since he joined, we’ve managed to find identity and some character which we can build up on, he’s attending the youth games and speaking very highly of people well respected and well-liked in the club, such as Mark Noble.

He’s also reportedly worked closely with Mark Noble when it comes to the youth, identifying who is and isn’t ready for the starting squad and who should go out on loan or comeback.

He’s ticked all the boxes so far, Potter, but unfortunately for him, he’s had total rotten luck when it comes to injuries.

West Ham now has the luxury of a 10-day break before the next match, which is at the Bowl against Brentford.

Throughout these 10 days, West Ham will see the return of Jean-Clair Todibo, Alvarez and Paqman. We’ll also see an integrated Evan Ferguson, who already appears to be happy at the club with his quotes insinuating that he’s looking to be here for longer than his loan suggests.

Along with a surprise Deadline Day return of James Ward-Prowse to the club due to West Ham and Nottingham Forest agreeing to terminate the remainder of his loan, which is the only way he was able to return to the club as the recall deadline had already passed.

Fulkrug and Antonio have already started to put eyes on a return with Big Micky about to start light training in Dubai next week, and it has been revealed that Nicholas Fulkrug’s return will be much sooner than expected after he was spotted in Dubai playing Football with the locals.

Our only major injury comes from Summerville, who was initially injured at Villa Park in the FA Cup with a suspected hamstring injury. The club confirmed that he had returned to training but picked up yet another injury, ultimately now leaving him out for eight weeks.

The injuries have been a huge setback for us; I’m surprised the curse hasn’t struck Uncle Ingy yet!

But even with all of these injuries we’ve had, which has forced Potters’ hand to play a bizarre team (four wingbacks). We’re still in the fight for our games and still putting out winning-worthy performances.

If we play like this from the start of next season and with a fit squad, who knows what level this squad could get to?

You, unfortunately, get the dismal feeling that if Dave & Others above decided to bring in Potter from the start, we well and truly could’ve been around the European spots now.

But it’s how things go in Football sometimes, swings and roundabouts.

But what it does do is bring excitement about what could come for next season and the potential possibilities.

Tim Steidten was released from his duties in the past few days, and if you choose to believe some of the stuff that was released, you could come to the conclusion that some of the corruption at the club has now been dissipated and hope has been reinstated through Potters appointment.

The future holds much excitement but it’ll be a long journey.

Sometimes the juice ain’t worth the squeeze, but in this instance, it is.