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Those West Ham fans hoping to see Nene make the squad for Sunday's match against Tottenham would do well to consider these comments by the erstwhile Mr Allardyce in his Evening Standard column "We have signed Brazilian offensive player Nene on an initial short-term contract. Now we have to get him fit as quickly as we can, his scoring record at PSG was impressive and we looked at him a year ago before he moved to Qatar. As soon as he’s fit, he’ll be in the squad and hopefully he will have an impact for us."
"As soon as he's fit"….. Sounds familiar? It should do, this is the bog standard reply Big Sam trots out each time an 'exotic' player is hoisted upon him by those dreadful owners who actually want a say about player recruitment. Expect to see Nene put through a gruelling 'fitness' regime, at the end of which, if he avoids injury during the process, he will be 'benched'. This time frame will mean that the player will miss those very hard matches that he was brought in to help in!
With Elliot Lee being loaned out to Luton Town, there is a paucity of striking options for West Ham, essentially Sakho, Valencia and Carlton, that's it! Vaz Te was allowed to move on and Zarate was appallingly treated prior to his farcical loan move to Q.P.R . Reports that Zarate was unfit merely illustrate the lack of joined up thought relating to his move, he is a player who needs to PLAY, his fitness comes to him that way. Who would most fans have preferred to see against W.B.A, Carlton Cole or an unfit Mauro Zarate?
The eyes of the Media will be on the 'ear cupper' today, there will be the usual, small squad and tired players excuses rolled out. Wouldn't it be refreshing if Big Sam just said "We were beaten by the better team on the day, they thoroughly out thought and out fought us, mea culpa". OK so the "mea culpa" is pushing it a bit, but it would definitely get a good laugh from the Press boys, Latin from the mouth of 'Allerdici', copy from heaven! -Ed

West Ham have announced the signing of former Paris St Germain striker Nene until the end of the season, subject to international clearance. This is a David Sullivan signing that should make those who confronted him after the Baggies Cup defeat feel even more ashamed than they should be. In a clear move away from the Allardyce agenda, Co owner and majority shareholder has shown, despite family issues ,that he is prepared to move boldly forward , with or without the support of David Gold and Karren Brady. Mauro Zarate was a Sullivan arranged player already in situ, ,but Allardyce's luddite recruitment view saw a champions league player almost reduced to playing in the championship!.
Thirty three year old Brazilian Nene was available on a free transfer after leaving Qatari side Al-Gharafa last month.
Nene told the www.whufc.com website: "I am very excited and happy to be here. I'm proud to come to a really big club like West Ham and I'm going to do my best to help the team.
"I've been thinking about coming back to Europe for a few months because here the football, the ambience, everything is better.
"It's a really good challenge for me, to come to a competition like the Premier League. It's the most competitive in the world so this is the motivation for me."
The much travelled Nene, whose previous clubs also include Mallorca, Alaves, Celta Vigo and Monaco, was joint-top scorer in Ligue 1 after scoring 21 goals for PSG in the 2011-12 season.
Nene offers verstaility as he can play out wide while he also has a reputation as a free kick specialist.
He said: "I like taking free kicks, so I practice at them all the time. I like making assists, they are part of my real work, to make the final pass to put the striker in a good position to score the goals, that is what I am all about."
Who knows, Nene might even manage more game time than Big Andy has all season during the remaining games of the season, that is of course assuming enough pressure is put on Big Sam to play him! The sub text of this signing looks as if it is set to roll on and on. -Ed