Forum | Non-Football Related

Manuel Pellegrini along with his Director of Football Mario Husillos have put their stamp on the way West Ham recruit players, and the Irons look to be moving in the right direction with some brilliant acquisitions, so why on Earth would they bring in Gary Medel as a Pedro Obiang replacement, as claimed could happen by ExWHUemployee on The West Ham Way podcast? Would it be another superb deal? We think not!

The news of Obiang’s potential departure will come as no shock as he has been hankering after a return to Spain. The Spanish-born midfielder has been used as a back up player by Pellegrini over the last 12 months, and if Jack Wilshere manages to stay relatively injury free this season, it would knock him further down the pecking order. Ex claims that 27 year old Obiang will be allowed to leave the club this summer, as Sassuolo are believed to have lodged a bid of around £10 Million for his services, but what will terrify Hammers fans is the news that Gary Medel, the former Cardiff City and Inter Milan midfielder, could replace him.

Medel is competent enough as a back up for West Ham’s midfield, but he is four years older than Obiang at 31 years of age, and his recent display against Argentina in Chile’s Copa America campaign surely proved that he is a loose cannon who would be a total liability in the new VAR era of the Barclays Premier League. It is true that statistics show Medel to be a better option, but there are lies and damn lies lurking around in stato sites.

Medel has played in the English top flight for one season with Cardiff, but the only quality we can possibly see that he has that Manuel Pellegrini could possibly want, is that he is Chilean! If Manuel is short of Chilean company, he can get in touch with the Chilean ambassador, who he has met on several occasions and ask to speak to the ambassador's son who just turns out to be a mad Hammers fan after going to the same academy as Leo Chambers, which coincidentally was also attended by Chelsea's Tammy Abrahams.

Gary Medel, thanks but no thanks! - Ed

Finally true to their word, the Hammers hierarchy have been dragged, mewling and puking, towards becoming a 'professionally run' football club by adroit pressure being applied by manager Manuel Pellegrini and head of recruitment Mario Husillos. The acquisition of Pablo Fornals and Sebastian Haller is a hugely significant statement from the club that along with other shrewd acquisitions might just see West Ham break in to the top six of the Barclays Premier League.

Fornals and Haller will end up costing circa £75 Million before wages, a massive investment, but both are young and will be on relatively low wages compared with others at the London Stadium. They join Felipe Anderson and Issa Diop as young talented sought after players who have seen their value double already since being recruited by El Pel and the Huse, they also brought in the 'economy' buy of the season in the form of the General Fabian Balbuena. Added to the likes of Jack Wilshere, Manu Lanzini and Andrily Yarmolenko who were unavailable virtually all season through injury, and there is the foundation of a terrific squad that also features Declan Rice.

Never before, even during the 'biscuit baron's profligacy that was erroneously handled by Eggert Magnússon, have West Ham had such a valuable squad of players tied down to lengthy contracts, but there is obviously a cost. No matter how creative the 'bean counters' are at the London Stadium certain hard choices had to be made in order to drag the club up to the next level.

Obviously certain players needed showing the door, but the level of investment that the club is having to make is going to require a bit more than tidy house keeping, the co-owners could put more money in to the club in the form of loans, but recent FFP changes make that almost impossible on the 'robbing peter to pay paul' principal. The only other option to balance the books is by a limited 'share review'.

We asked the venerable football accounts wizard, Richard Thornley, who has been involved with several high profile clubs, to explain the gobble de gook surrounding inbound investment on a corporate level. Currently the owners of West Ham are David Sullivan (51.1%) David Gold (35.1%) Albert 'Tripp' Smith (10%) Other Investors (3.8%) Tripp Smith was instrumental in building out Blackstone Group LP’s biggest business as a co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, before leaving the firm and is incredibly well connected. His name was linked with a possible buy out or serious investment in the club by the late Paul Allen co-founder of Apple Inc.

On top of her £898,000 salary, West Ham United paid Baroness Brady £438,000 via her company BKB Media Ltd for work in connection with the sale of ten per cent of the club to the American billionaire Albert “Tripp” Smith last year as the club's registered accounts confirm. If Tripp was to acquire more shares they would come from a share release funded by shares from David Gold in order for David Sullivan to retain over half the shares.

The money received by the club would be 'written' aside, eventually the money received from share sales would be returned to the original seller, but with a compound interest charge attached. Essentially the seller of the shares actually loans the money received for them back to the club with the first option of re-buying the shares, this may sound convoluted but it is exactly the sort of business practise that Tripp's company specialised in.

It is well known that the terms for buying the London Stadium outright, and the amount of monies being paid back to the public purse, dramatically change in 2023 to the club's benefit which is when there might be a massive inward investment. This may explain why the co-owners are pushing the boat out ahead of that year, by investing in young talent they will hopefully end up with a squad, and later on, a ground truly fit for purpose.

It's been a 'long time coming', sang Crosby, Stills and Nash at Woodstock, well it's been an even longer time coming to West Ham United football club! - Ed

West Ham United's spirited but unsuccessful match against Premier League champions Manchester City ended in a 4-1 defeat, City's full strength team showed exactly why they are the Champions, but if lady luck had been smiling the score line would have been a much more respectable 4-3.

The match, played out in sweltering conditions, did have several positives for the Hammers, as well as a few negatives. The positives being Jack Wilshere managing to avoid any injury issues, and a really cohesive first half performance, the negatives being Carlos Sanchez who is always one step away from a dangerously conceded foul or a really poor pass straight to the opposition, he must have 'Ju JU' over El Pel and the Huse!

The only other real negative from what was a really good 'warm up' match for the Irons was Chicharito, Javier Hernandez did his usual stuff, the occasional piece of positional brilliance matched by a woeful work rate, he spent much of his second half appearance blaming the entire world for his performance and inability to find the back of the net, ineffectual he was.

The consequences of this defeat are somewhat if not entirely nullified by the club's confirmation that a top quality 'proper' striker has finally arrived at the London Stadium, not on the back of an ambulance, as is normally the case, but on the back of an incredibly successful season in the Bundesliga. Eintracht Frankfurt's Sebastian Haller has completed his move to West Ham United by signing a five year contract with the option of a club enacted extra year extension.

The deal for Haller means the Hammers have broken their transfer record for a third time in a little over a year following the captures of Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson. A German Cup winner with Eintracht in 2018, Haller becomes the Irons’ fourth summer signing and had this to say to the O/S. "I feel really great, I think it’s a really good opportunity for me to be here, it means a lot (to be the record signing). It proves that the club [has] really wanted me for a long time. I felt this desire to sign me and I’m really happy to sign, also. it is an ambitious club, a nice club, a nice city and nice fans too. For me I can guarantee that I will give 100% for the club because the club has given me this confidence and I will try to give it back every day in every game. I will always give 100% and respect the club. I think this is a normal thing and that I can guarantee. I know it’s a big transfer and there is a lot of expectation around me, and I just want to make people proud of this transfer and I will give everything I have."

The completion of the Haller deal will come as a massive relief to Hammers fans who had seen their hopes of signing a top striker dashed when the Maxi Gomez deal failed to materialise, but the club have fallen on their feet when it comes to Sebastian Haller. The rumoured £45 Million price including add ons is a bit rich, but if you want to dine at the top table you have to pay top dollar. In Haller the club have themselves a 'proper bruiser' of a striker who is not going to race home to mummy when some central defender runs his studs down the back of the player's calf.

Some sceptics may say that Haller is only viewing West Ham as a spring board to better things, but with the exception of Manchester City and one or two other clubs in the World that players join, that will always be the case. If Haller rips it up in the Barclays Premier League he will have no shortage of suitors wishing to sign him, so what is wrong with West Ham keeping him for a couple of seasons and then maybe selling him on for a huge profit?

Like we said, it is the way of the footballing world, better to embrace it rather than have the game pass the club by, and isn't it about time West Ham United started to make a few quid on transfers instead of always losing?

Haller along with fellow new signing Pablo Fornals will join up with the rest of the squad following the Asia Cup trophy matches. These could be genuinely exciting times ahead for Hammers fans, real hope instead of the usual smoke an mirrors of the past decades. - Ed

Director of Football Mario Husillos said: “We are very pleased to welcome Sebastien and his family to West Ham United.

“It is no secret that we have been in the process of identifying a top class striker to add to the squad this summer, and much work has gone on behind the scenes to ensure that we were in a position to act once the right opportunity became available.

“Sebastien is a player we have been watching closely for some time - he has always been a key target and someone who myself, Manuel Pellegrini and David Sullivan were very keen to bring to the football club.

“He is a player with excellent pedigree and experience in three of Europe’s top leagues. His record at Eintracht Frankfurt in recent seasons has been up there with the top strikers in the Bundesliga, and we believe that his physical and technical qualities will be well suited to the Premier League.

“He is at the perfect moment for us, like many of the players who have arrived at the club in the past 12 months - young, with his best years still ahead of him, yet with good experience and proven at the highest level.

West Ham: Roberto, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Johnson, Rice, Noble, Wilshere, Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Antonio Subs: Martin, Reid, Zabaleta, Cresswell, Cullen, Sanchez, Diangana, Obiang, Snodgrass, Yarmolenko, Chicharito
Man City: Bravo, Danilo, Angelino, Laporte, Harwood-Bellis, Rodrigo, David Silva, Doyle, Bernabe, Poveda-Ocampo, Nmecha Subs: Grimshaw, Walker, Stones, Sterling, Gündogan, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Sane, Bernardo, Touaizi, Pozo, Aleix Garcia, Diounkou, Knight