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Having splashed out just over £10 Million of the transfer money received from the sale of Dimitri Payet on buying Scottish International Robert Snodgrass from Hull City, West Ham will be looking to recoup as much money as possible for the player who was sent out on loan to Aston Villa last season. Villa's failure to make the promised land that is the Premier League by being beaten in the play off final by Fulham means that they are no longer able to afford players like Snodgrass even on loan due to Financial Fair Play rules as they are now approaching their final year of parachute payments.

While Aston Villa are left to deal with the disappointment of another year in the Championship, newly promoted Cardiff City under the management of 'old foe' Neil Warnock who has worked with Snodgrass before, seem to be showing an interest in the 30 year old winger/forward who arrived at the London Stadium in the 'January Sales' and was never able to recreate the form that had made him Hull's best player and captain, he endured a miserable time with the club while Slaven Bilic was manager and was farmed out on loan for the next season, but not before there was the venting of a lot of bad blood both ways on behalf of the Hammers' hierarchy and the player himself, ultimately ending in a situation where a return to West Ham United was all but impossible.

Some will say Snodgrass was never given a fair crack of the whip and that he was played out of position by Slaven Billic, others would say he looked at least a yard of the pace and that the move from the small goldfish pond that was Hull City to the Big Ocean that is West Ham was just too much for him to cope with, it is believed he also found living away from his young family very difficult, which beggars the question why move in the first place? It couldn't have been for the money from Snodgrass' point of view, it was probably more a question of Hull grabbing what they could for one of their few assets while they were still able to do so!

Good luck Robert, you and Neil deserve each other. - Ed

The dark shadow that descended over the London Stadium last year currently seems to be a thing of the past, with record season ticket sales, a 'proper' manager and the prospect of exciting talents arriving in E20.

Of course with all the talk of new arrivals there will also be talk of who will be leaving and for how much, The Sun and Sky Sports (one of the same!) have embarked on a relentless 'Arnie to Mourinho' campaign, however the devil is always in the detail and the details emerging are conflicting to say the least. The Murdoch media machine has attempted to imply that Arnoutovic would 'love' to sign for Mourinho because of the time they spent together at Inter Milan, only thing is Marko Arnautović endured a torrid time while the Manchester United manager was in charge, Mourinho described Arnautović as a 'big child' and too inconsistant and that he would never make the grade, we will have more on this topic on Monday.

A £17 Million move for Paris Saint Germain playmaker Javier Pastore is the latest rumour to emerge, with PSG apparently having to balance their books due to financial fare play rules, they have completely ignored FFP in the past and it is intruiging that they have suddenly begun to comply. Whatever the reason for Pastore's availability the fact remains he is a class act and at 28 years old is at his peak, the only fly in the ointment being his injury record last season, he would represent a significant investment and West Ham know only too well the price of signing injury prone players! The recent flurry of transfer activity has seen Hammers' chances of reaching the Europa Cup become a real possibility which is reflected by the changing of the odds from potential relegation candidates to stylish Euro giants, promo betfred have all the latest odds.

Manuel Pellegrini has a penchant for playing a version of 4-2-2-2 setting his teams up to 'overwhelm' the opposition with fast wing play feeding two strikers, one of which is usually deployed in the 'hole'. If Pastore was signed he could form a devastating partnership in midield with Manuel Lanzini, the combination would then be able to feed Arnoutovic and probably Javier Hernandez which in turn would tick the 'little un big un' requirement for playing two 'up top'. Unfortunately the impending arrival of Pastore means the chances of retaining Jaoa Mario for another season look very slender, which is a real pity, he took to the Premier League really well and as such would not be a risk as he s not an unknown quantity. Perhaps Inter might allow him to return on loan for another season, one would imaging it is the only way he will reurn to the London Stadium as his purchase price would be too rich for West Ham given how little money there is available to spend.

So where does all this leave Andy Carroll, Jordan Hugill, Robert Snodgrass, Sam Byram and probably Winston Reid? Probably a lot closer to the exit door! - Ed

Unless the board of West Ham United are about to perform one of the biggest U turns in the club's history, fans of the club will hardly believe the 'Pellegrini' effect with regards to new signings.
Clearly the new manager wants to get his important business done well before the World Cup starts, this only gives him a couple of weeks but his targets were known well in advance by the Hammers' hierarchy.
The feel good factor induced by the impending arrival of Marlon from Barcelona B has been further supplemented with news of negotiations between West Ham and Lazio regarding Felipe Anderson as well as negotiations with soon to be out of contract Fulham defender, Ryan Fredericks.

Both of these 25 year old players fit the Pellegrini fitness blue print, although Anderson did endure an injury hit season, despite that he still managed to score seven goals and provide 12 assists which helped the Rome club to the Europa League quarter finals. In 177 appearances across five seasons for Lazio, pacey winger Anderson has scored 34 goals and provided 42 assists, and although Hammers have supposedly just got to dot the I's and cross the T's it is not inconceivable that another club might try and hijack the deal for what would be a significant signing for West Ham, news of Hammers early transfer activity has seen expectations for next season soar, as have season ticket renewals, check out the odds at this website.

As if news about Felipe Anderson isn't enough, there are very positive signs that West Ham will finally be able to secure the services of Ryan Fredericks now that his current contract is about to expire, his services have long since been coveted by the club, apparently with some guidance from 'Pellegrii the Pilgrim' well before he actually became manager, which does add some creedance to the stories circulating with regards to exactly when the 64 year old Chilean agreed to take over, this would futher explain why David Moyes was only ever given a six month contract.

Fredericks would be a natural successor to Pablo Zabalata, he is eight years younger and a natural power house, the right back was "close to agreeing terms" as we go to press having refused Fulham's latest offer of a bumper new deal following their Championship play off success against Aston Villa last weekend. London born Fredericks is a former schools sprint champion who began his career with Tottenham, he left White Hart Lane before making a single competitive first team appearance and arrived at Fulham following loan spells with Brentford, Millwall and Middlesbrough plus a very brief spell at Bristol City in 2015 where, less than a month after signing a three year contract at Ashton Gate, he left to join current club Fulham.

The prospect of having two additional 'speed machines' has Hammers' fans drooling, so who on earth might also arrive? Well Felipe Anderson's arrival might mean one of several things, the club could decide to NOT take 'Super Mario' on loan from Inter for another season, or it could mean the potential departure of Michail Antonio, with Crystal Palace very keen on him, as are a whole host of other teams including newly promoted and cash rich Wolves. Antonio has struggled with injuries of late and will not be fit for the start of the season, Pellegrini may be of the view that now is the time to cash in the versatile Antonio, he should be worth between £15-20 Million at least.

In an ideal world West Ham would keep Antonio, re-sign Mario, and buy Fredericks and Anderson in addition to Marlon, but it is inevitable that something will have to give, because quite frankly the mooted £75 Million transfer kitty at Pellegrini's disposal is woefully inadequate, even double that figure would see the club barely treading water bearing in mind the huge amount of TV money that all Barclays Premier League clubs are about to receive!