Forum | Non-Football Related

There has been much media chat about the sale of Jordan Hugill to Norwich and Albian Ajeti to Celtic, Hugill's £36,000 per week contract was due to expire on June 30th 2021, so to get those wages off the annual bill and get what will eventually be around £5 Million for a player in the final year of their contract wasn't the appalling piece of business that it is being made out to be. To lose a combined £9 Million on the deals to sell Hugill to Norwich and Ajeti to Celtic, without even factoring the wages they earned while contracted, was not a good bit of business, but compared to the catastrophic purchases made by other teams it seems par to the norm.

Clubs, not just West Ham, have been providing a gravy train for greedy agents and a breed of ferile youngsters, not all of them obviously, who only want to make a fast buck rather than knuckle down and learn how to ply their trade. Hammers fans can expect a few more 'miserable deal' departures, as the club desperately seek to balance the books in a 'flexible' environment that could see the absence of fans at stadia for almost the entire season, despite the protestations from hopeful government ministers to the contrary.

Ajeti and Hugill were low profile departures, the next 'tranche' won't be quite so, one or two of the 'super stars' so expensively assembled will also go, maybe more if buyers can be found during this incredibly tight financial period, there might not be any takers, and those that are will be thin on the ground and looking to exploit the situation to the fullest degree.

As we have mentioned before, all is not lost, realistically, if it had to, the team could get by with only the addition of a couple of full backs and possibly a central defender, but again as we have said before the club are paying 80% of Winston Reid's wages while he is on loan at Kansas FC,why not bring him back as a reserve player?

Sometimes the finances and politics of professional football beggar belief, in no other industry could such policies prevail! - Ed

David Moyes is more than half way through his 'gem puzzle' rebuilding of West Ham United's first team and ancillary squad, unfortunately players have to be moved on in order to acquire the replacements the manager wants. To that purpose, Albian Ajeti has been sold to Celtic while Jordan Hugill looks 'firmed up' to be joining recently relegated Norwich City. What a difference a year makes, the wages handed out during the 'Pelligrinophile' era are coming back to bite the club in the proverbial!

£30,000 per week for the calamity that was Roberto, £50,000 per week for Ajeti, £60,000 per week for Carlos Sanchez and finally £100,000 per week for the 'Wheelchair' AKA known as Jack Wilshere who was a footballer once. These sums are just the tip of the ice berg, so it was inevitable something had to give! Of course the Covid pandemic brought matters quickly to a head, but the situation merely accelerated what was going to happen, the fact is the Hammers squad was over paid, bloated and the recruitment lacked any joined up thinking.

These were the actions of a fiscal 'serial killer', and the club must now pick up the pieces. Easier said than done, but baby steps in the market might help in order to secure 'realistic' targets, with a distinct preference for UK based players rather than foreign imports. The profligacy of the previous management means that David Moyes is having to scramble around in the bargain basement area, more Primark the John Lewis! Moyes has made strengthening the defence his main priority, and to that purpose he wants a new centre back/midfielder, but for very little outlay, with loan deals being sought from several clubs including Brighton and both the Manchester clubs.

Media speculation has put Manchester United's Phil Jones in the spotlight, nevertheless Moyes regards the long serving United man as a potential back up option to his first choice, Manchester City's John Stones. Moyes also has an interest in Brighton’s Shane Duffy.

Man United are likely to listen to offers for Jones this summer, despite handing him a new a four year contract last year worth well in excess of £100,000-a-week. He has spent nine years at Old Trafford and made 224 appearances since joining from Blackburn Rovers, however the Sir Alex Ferguson signing is a fringe figure these days and has played in just eight matches across all competitions this season

Although he is an admirer of the player, David Moyes has previously questioned whether the 27-times England international has the “desire” to reignite a career that saw him make just two Premier League appearances last season. Despite being on massive money (the same as Wilshere!) there is some 'wiggle room', should they wish, West Ham believe they can circumnavigate that issue by negotiating a loan deal in which they would pay only a portion of the defender’s wages.
John Stones is the player Moyes covets most of the 'unholy trinity', likewise he is available for a loan deal and the Irons would put forward a similar fiscal proposition to that which is required for Jones. Should neither of these 'options' come to fruition, Shane Duffy would be the proffered alternative, with West Ham again looking for a loan deal, although Brighton might well think otherwise!

Talks of loan deals for other club's cast offs might not be particularly inspiring, but they are realistic in the current climate. Hopefully the club will be able to off load some of it's fiscal haemorrhages, but for now unless one or two of the big earners can be moved on, it will be a case of 'Hobson's' choice, and we don't mean Woy! - Ed

Porto expect to conclude a deal for West Ham prospect Benicio Baker-Boaitey this week, the highly-rated 16-year-old winger has confirmed his departure from the Irons after failing to reach agreement over a professional contract. Baker-Boaitey has previously held talks with Champions League finalists Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain and Benfica but arrived in Portugal last week and is expected to sign for the Portuguese champions before linking up with their U19s. He joins Jeremy Ngakia as player who has come through the youth ranks but has decided to leave the club despite being offered the 'standard' terms given to all players who make the transition, Declan Rice went through the same arrangement but accepted the terms offered to him.

It is not just Baker-Boaitey and Ngakia who have 'jumped ship', last season Domingos Quina chose to not accept thoroughly decent terms in order to join Watford, ironically the same club Ngakia 'elected' to choose instead of the Irons. Fans can only come to the conclusion that West Ham are not a club where young players feel valued? Perhaps the players were offered guaranteed playing time and maybe a bit more money, but look at where Watford are now, Quina hardly got any game time at Vicarage road, unless you call 3 starts game time!

The problem lays with a combination of greedy agents, and the club's recent historic record of bringing so few youth players through the ranks whereas before there was a constant conveyor belt of talent being fast tracked. Sam Allardyce virtually closed down the Academy during his tenure as manager, Slaven Billic showed much more interest, but then all his work was undone when he was replaced by Manuel Pellegrini who flattered to deceive when it came to selecting youth from the club's own academy.

Grady Diangana is a classic example of the club rearing an excellent player but then sending him out on loan to the benefit of a club that will be rivals next season, with no money available the only option is to use Academy players, the U-23's don't seem to be doing too badly do they?

In our opinion the club needs to 'firm up' the transition options made available to aspiring first teamers, and heaven forbid, offer similar financial inducements but on a structured reward basis. It's what other clubs do, glancing at the European leagues there are plenty of highly valuable young players who are growing in value due to being played, David Moyes does tend to bang on about how successful he has been when working with young players and that he can recognise and unearth talent.

Well now is the time to do so, the club cannot afford, particularly in the current circumstances, to keep losing gems that have been trained and paid for,only to lose them to the opposition. - Ed

This cannot be, West Ham United, perennial supporters of the catastrophically long term injury' league, might transfer their star 'cripple' over the border to Scotland, with Glasgow Rangers being his unlikely destination. However before fans start to dance in the streets, any deal relating to 'Jack's' departure would almost inevitably involve some form of financial cushion for the 'victims'.

Somewhat harsh you might say, but Jack 'Wheel Chair' Wilshere has spent two seasons pocketing TWICE the wages paid to club captain Mark Noble! The astonishing and outrageous wages that Wilshere's agent managed to prise out of the Hammers hierarchy beggar belief, however in the current financial climate they seem inappropriate. If Jack Wilshere doesn't head North, and there is more than a possibility that he would elect to stay in London., then surely the club must come to some arrangement with him to curtail his serviced, and his huge salary.

The source of one of the most bizarre or exciting rumours of the transfer window, is that it has been claimed that Jack Wilshere played for a Glasgow Rangers XI as a trialist on Wednesday against Plymouth Argyle. Rangers won the match 3-2 with a late winner, but it is the rumour that Wilshere played for the Glasgow side on the day that appears to be attracting plenty of attention from supporters. The midfielder is in Scotland at the moment as he trains with the Irons, so how he was able to play for Rangers against Plymouth last night and be training with West Ham today is up for debate, unless Rangers had a private plane available for the return and were able to give Jack a lift, alternatively he could have just paid for a private jet for himself and the Rangers team out of his own pocket!

Unfortunately, like the player himself, this one has no legs! - Ed