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Half Price Horror Sale! Pellegrini Signed Us For Over £100 Million, We Are Worth Less Than Half Now
Some might say losing £25 Million in order to sell your record signing is atrocious business, which it is, whereas others might say that West Ham were extremely fortunate in achieving even £20 Million for misfit striker Sebastien Haller. It should be remembered that prior to his 2019 arrival at the club, Haller was NOT Manuel Pellegrini's first choice as striker, Maxi Gomez was the player sought by the Chilean ex-manager of West Ham but a deal could not be put together.

The naivety of the Hammers board was exposed and exploited by the wily Pellegrini who recognised the apparent desire to spend big in order to justify the move from the much revered Boleyn Ground to the White Elephant that is the as yet still unbranded London Stadium.

There must be several despot states that would love to be able to relieve people of their funds with the efficiency of the 'Pellegrinophile'! £45 Million for Seb Haller, £36 Million for Felipe Anderson and £22 Million for Issa Diop represents an outlay of over £100 Million, where did it all go wrong?

Haller has joined Ajax, where he will probably bang goals in for fun, Anderson is bench warming while on an unsuccessful loan at Porto, and Diop's form has dropped off the cliff to such an extent that he finds himself behind Watford's Craig Dawson in the starting line up!

So there we have it, for an outlay of £103 Million the club has now lost £25 Million on Haller, while Anderson's value has halved meaning an £18 Million loss, Diop has not gone down in value, but he certainly hasn't gone up, despite being young and previously superb at the back.

Of course West Ham do not have the monopoly for signing over priced heavy loss making players, that honour is shared jointly by London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, particularly the latter. The signings of Anderson, Diop and Haller were a classic example of a narcissistic manager who was obsessed with his 'big club mentality' ethos, but was actually in complete denial, the result was a totally imbalanced squad which had gaping holes in it that needed addressing but they weren't.

The grim reality is West Ham could not afford to lose £50 Million before the Covid-19 epidemic, let alone now, however there is hope that David Moyes if given the proceeds of the Haller sales might just be able to work his magic in the transfer market, with the Czech Republic being his primary 'honey hole'.

If used wisely, the Ajax money can fund the arrival of a much needed 'proper striker' who doesn't fall on his backside at the slightest of touches, a left back and an additional midfielder as cover for Rice and Soucek. It is rather ironic that the only signing Pellegrini and his director of football Mario Husillos made was that of Pablo Fornals, who was the least 'fancied' of the influx of players but has turned out to be the best, and the only one that David Moyes appears to trust.

A European place is tantalisingly close for the Irons, this season more than ever, but having been 'torched' by Pellegrini, the Hammers hierarchy will be loathe to go down that road again, however if they don't back Moyes they may well regret not taking the genuine opportunity, one that they must have dreamt of in the past, of finally reaching the 'next level', a promise they made in order to justify the move from the 'hallowed' ground that was the Boleyn. - Ed.

OK, so the last name was a bit of a red herring, but Carlton Cole who works with the academy as a mentor for the youngsters is still only 37 years old, mooted Hammers striker targets for this window are Graziano Pellè age 35, Olivier Giroud age 34 and Diego Costa at the sprightly age of 32.

David Moyes has cast an eye over Graziano Pellè as a target, the 35 year old is a free agent and is now without a club after leaving Chinese side Shandong Luneng. Despite his age, there are plenty of suitors for the striker, including Juventus and Inter Milan, while there are two ‘serious proposals’ from clubs outside Italy, one of which being from a Middle East club and the other is from the Irons. Pelle spent two seasons at Southampton and West Ham tried to sign him before he left for Shandong Luneng in 2016, so there was interest in him before now.

Pellè is currently in Dubai and would have to quarantine for 10 days where ever he ends up, although that would make him unavailable for a few games, his fitness would be more of an issue as he would clearly need at least a couple of weeks 'pre-season' before he could even be considered for the rigours of the Barclays Premier League! Diego Costa, the club are interested in Costa but wages could be an issue.

Olivier Giroud has been linked with West Ham almost as much as Declan Rice has been linked with Giroud's current club, Chelsea. At 34 years of age Giroud is no spring chicken, but he knows where the back of the net is, and would have been a good short term, possibly loan, signing. Unfortunately despite Giroud being desperate for game time ahead of the delayed Euro's, a factor that could have seen him leaving Chelsea during this window, it seems unlikely that the player will leave, for two reasons. Firstly he has been given a lot more game time of late, and secondly his beleaguered manager Frank Lampard may well be exiting himself during the window, Roman Abramovitch doesn't 'do failure', especially when he has bankrolled over £250 Million worth of acquisitions in the transfer market.

At ONLY 32 years of age, Diego Costa's availability on a free transfer could prove attractive to West Ham, he knows the Barclays Premier League well from his time with Chelsea, and by all accounts he is keen to return to 'the best league in the world'. Costa has received offers from several European clubs but would prefer giving the Premier League another bash, the only stumbling block would be the player's wages, but if Moyes adopts his usual 'canny' approach to the transfer it might benefit all parties involved.

West Ham could potentially sign Costa, even if they had to 'pay large' on his wages initially, he could be signed on a two or three year deal, utilised by Moyes for a season or two and then be sold on for a profit that would cover his wages for the time he was at the club, in essence a striker for free!

Costa looks like he is worth a punt, viewed by an outsider looking in, whether David Moyes shares that opinion is another matter, but Costa seems the most logical choice out of the three candidates. - Ed