Forum | Non-Football Related

West Ham are set to confirm both the £7 Million signing of Lukasz Fabianski from relegated Swansea and the signing of phenomenal central defender Issa Diop from Toulouse within the next couple of days. Diop underwent a medical at the Spires Hospital yesterday ahead of completing his €25 Million move from the French Ligue 1 club on a five year contract. Everton and Sevilla were among the other clubs to have shown interest in 6ft 3ins Diop, but West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini was keen to get the deal done quickly and it seems he has got his man. At 21 years of age and having played for France at all levels up to U 21, Diop represents the future and will have a tremendous sell on value, apart from that and more importantly he is a winner!

Having already signed Fulham full back Ryan Fredericks on a free transfer, West Ham have agreed a £7 Million three year contract with Swansea for Fabianski but will delay confirmation of the deal until tomorrow as the 33 year old former Arsenal keeper is in the Poland squad facing Cheikhou Kouyate's Senegal today. New director of football Mario Husillos is believed to have been the crucial element in bringing both Diop and Fabianski to the London Stadium, he is also believed to be interested in Fabianski's Swansea team mate central defender Alfie Mawson.

Diop made 41 appearances in the 2017/18 campaign and will only get better, his arrival will surely mean the end of Hammers' interest in Chris Smalling from Manchester United who is seven years older and looks to have reached the best standard that he ever will, failing to recapture the form that he previously had as a youngster. The signing of Diop represents a considerable investment, and given the lack of funds available to Manuel Pellegrini probably means an end to the club's interest in signing Felipe Anderson unless a 'very special' deal can be put together. Anderson's reported wage demands are just too rich for a club of West Ham United's limited resources and the opinion is that signing Anderson could be a step too far at this moment in the club's time frame.

Realistically Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillos have only just begun to address the gaping chasm in the team's make up, essentially the defence and links to the midfield, once there is a firm balance achieved then El Pel will be able to 'blood' youngsters from the Academy, he will definitely need to do so, as he will only be operating within a fraction of the budget that he had available at Real Madrid or Manchester City. The only cloud on the horizon is how much if any revenue can be brought in to the club via player sales, as yet it appears that there have not been any offers for the players who have been deemed surplus to requirements.

As we go 'live' with this article the futures of: Andy Carroll, Jordan Hugill, Sam Byram, Winston Reid and of course Robert Snodgrass are all in transition, there is also the distinct possibility that Adrian San Miguel will seek a move to Real Betis as a direct result of Fabianski arriving at West Ham, Adrian had to put up with losing his starting place to Joe Hart, and although he was eventually selected ahead of Hart hehas made it very clear that he doesn't want to be a bench warmer citing his ommision from the Spanish squad at the World Cup 2018 as a result of not having enough game time. In an ideal world Hammers' would have both Adrian and Fabianski in their squad but it remains to be seen if such a situation is tenable, after all the club did not spend £7 Million on Fabianski just for fun!

Fabianski will more than likely be on show when Poland take on Cheikhou Kouyaté's Senegal later today, so now there will be two players for Hammers' fans to be anxious about during the game. - Ed

When one of our members in Austria contacted us to ask our opinion about Marko Arnautovic's injury picked up during the Home team's 3-0 friendly defeat by Brasil, we were taken aback and, still reeling from the news of Manuel Lanzini's dreadful anterior cruciate injury, somewhat in shock..only could it happen to West Ham! Then we saw a news clip which featured 'Arnie' and his national team manager laughing about how he would deal with the injury, which then transpired to be a fractured wrist incurred against Brasil.

Cue huge sigh of relief at the Org, not half as huge as the sighs of relief emanating from gnome towers and the souless dome, To lose one of your top players to injury while on International duty is sadly a situation that has blighted West Ham ever since the days the club provided the spine of the national team that won the World Cup way back in 1966. During the Premiership era Hammers' have lost plenty of players to injury while on international duty, most notably Dean Ashton who was the striker who never was, or hardly was due to being injured during an England training session, he did make the gruelling effort to return from serious injury which ironically negated any compensation or insurance pay outs to the club, eventually he was forced to hang up his boots when it became evident that he could no longer continue playing without risking long term complications to his health.

With Manuel Lanzini's injury on everyone's mind it was reassuring to eventually see Marko Arnautovic break into a big smile when asked how he would cope with his newly acquired injury, (translated) he said "last time I looked football was played with your feet and not with your hands, so I should be OK!" Also when questioned about possible interest from Manchester United he encouragingly said " The World Cup starts in a couple of days, then all the Press will have plenty to write about won't they?"

OK so this time fans get to breathe a sigh of relief with regarding the situation , but it does high light the risk involved with hiring top international players, they are all only one tackle or poor fall away from potential disaster. So when fans wish to see all these top players they should bear in mind the possible risks that accompany these players, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for! West Ham United, despite what many fans believe, is not a cash rich club by a long chalk, in fact this is the first year that the club hasn't been paying off the last season's 'pay day loans' brokered from one of the mysterious off shore banking organisations based in the Bahamas.

Paying out £25-45 Million for a player may seem common place, but that is only within the budget of a few teams and such outlays can cripple a club that doesn't do due dilligence or doesn't adhere to sound financial principles, given the paucity of Manuel Pellegrini's transfer war chest only one tenth of the players deals that West Ham are currently 'linked' with will stand any chance of getting over the line, maybe not even that small percentage. Realistically the club have to hope for someone to stump up some serious transfer money having been at the 'happy pills' while looking at Videos of Hammers' players who are up for sale, and hope that the deals can be set up during the prospective purchaser's temporary insanity and be concluded rapidly!

Well at least Arnie's OK for the time being, that is of course before the Arnautovic to Manchester United story starts doing the rounds again.- Ed