Forum | Non-Football Related

Obviously with the transfer window opened, the speculation thread mill has gone into overdrive with rumour versus counter rumour, none more so than the 'never ending story' of whether Manchester United's Jesse Lingard would return to West Ham on a permanent basis, following his incredibly successful loan spell during the second half of last season.

Lingard HAS been badly let down by his parent club on his return to Old Trafford, promises of more playing time were initially dashed by Ole 'gonner' and then compounded by Ralf Rangnick as Lingard's plummet down the Manchester United pecking order has been perpetuated.

During his loan spell at the club players openly refered to Lingard as Moyes's pet, more clandestine names were given to him such as Moyes's love child, such was the esteem the Hammers manager held for the Manchester United midfielder. It seemed a foregone conclusion that Lingard would return to West Ham sooner rather than later, as a result Moyes decided on bringing Nikola Vlasic to the club at some considerable expense.

Moyes has integrated Vlasic into the team incredibly cautiously, but he now seems willing for the Croatian to step up to the plate in the absence of Said Benrahma who is off playing in the AFCON competition that is scheduled to run for SIX weeks.

Hammers need for a striker is like a scratched record, as is the need for a good left back as well as a decent centre back, the ONE area of the pitch that Hammers have cover in abundance is MIDFIELD, with Pablo Fornals, Alex Kral, Manuel Lanzini and now Nikola Vlasic ALL competing to fill two slots, so where would Jesse Lingard fit in?

Something would have to give in order to accommodate Jesse, however IF he arrived EARLY during the January window, playing him would only risk putting one nose out of joint instead of two, the problem being that one of those affected most by Lingard's selection would be Vlasic, who has just been 'brought to the boil' in a similar fashion as that was done to both Jarrod Bowen AND Said Benrama.

Of course it can be argued that ANY club with genuine top four or even top six aspirations, HAS to have a squad capable of playing on ALL fronts throughout the season and therefore signing Lingard would be a prudent bit of business that could pay for itself, if Hammers WERE able to gatecrash the top four! - Ed

Remember Savio Nsereko and the hype surrounding the next 'best young striker in Europe' when West Ham paid Brecsia £9 Million for the 19 year old back in 2009? Despite the massive fan fair on his arrival, he failed to settle at the club, making just one start and failing to score in any of his ten appearances. He was sold to Fiorentina for €2.7 Million, with Manuel da Costa going the other way as part of the deal for free. Hammers retained the rights to 50 percent of the player's sell-on fee, which would eventually be worth, a big fat Zilch!

Savio hasn't been the only flop to arrive at West Ham by a long mark, there is quite a comprehensive list after all. So rumours of Hammers supposed interest in signing Gabriel Barbosa ,who has already FAILED miserably in Europe and has a questionable entourage that accompany him at whichever club he plays for, must surely be wide of the mark, mustn't they?

No one doubts that the 25-year-old Brazilian forward has been a stunning success since returning to Brasil and playing for Flamengo, he has scored 84 goals in 124 games for them. Last season, he scored 29 goals in 43 games so he obviously knows how to score, in BRASIL! However his struggles in Europe with Inter and Benfica will surely ring alarm bells and undoubtedly be a concern for David Moyes. Smashing it in the Brasilian top flight is one thing, doing so in the Premier League requires a whole new set of skills, which on the face of it, 'Gabigoal' as he is nicknamed, clearly lacks.

Barbosa may have been tracked by West Ham for quite some time now, but that delay has been for a reason, David Moyes doesn't 'fancy' him, due in no small measure to the fact that Barbosa as a full time body guard and no less than TWO full time social media managers! Exactly the sort of baggage the Iron's manager is really fond of, NOT.

Those wishing to see 'Gabigoa'l in the Premier League need not be disappointed though, he'll probably end up at Newcastle! - Ed

You have to go back to 2018, one of West Ham's brightest stars who had been lighting up the Premier League had just had an amazing season, he was off to play alongside his hero and mentor Lionel Messi for his country Argentina, ahead of returning to the domestic league where newly ensconced manager Manuel Pellegrini had planned to build his entire team around the 'hot property' that WAS Manuel Lanzini, the Little Jewel.

Signed permanently from Al Jazira in 2016, Lanzini dazzled fans and pundits with his exquisite displays that saw him coveted by a host of teams both domestically and in Europe. All that came to an abrupt end when on the 8th of June 2018, Lanzini suffered a ruptured anterior knee ligament injury during a training session which ruled him out of the World Cup, in addition to virtually an ENTIRE Premier League season.

When he did return to the fray, the Little Jewel was a shadow of his former self, he lacked confidence and had most definitely 'lost a yard' or even more! After a series of lack lustre performances punctuated by what seemed like an endless run of niggling injuries, many were writing the diminutive 28 year old off.

Large sections of the Hammerd faithful wanted him gone, while lamenting his loss at the same time, mentioning what might have been. Well, you know what? The Little Jewel is BACK! Back with a bang and more some, master tactician and player motivator David Moyes in cahoots with Chicken Kev, Psycho and the rest of the backroom staff worked out a different, deeper lying role for 'Manu', and he hasn't looked back since.

He showed glimpses that he might be on the way back to his pomp last season. particularly with his 'wonder goal' against Tottingham, but he found game time hard to come by and had to settle for 'cameo roles' from the bench. To begin with, David Moyes used Lanzini very sparingly this season, but his performances indicated that he would become more and more of a viable option.

Manuel Lanzini's first goal in the 3-2 victory against Palace yesterday was a thing of beauty, a joy to behold, a reminder of what he is about and hopefully a portent of the future, Manu is BACK, he never really went away! - Ed