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Well, it is a 'friendly' isn't it? Hammers penultimate friendly ahead of the beginning of the Barclays Premier League against Hertha Berlin might well be 'the last chance sallon' for certain peripheral players currently at West Ham United.

Having released so many players during their 'cull' at West Ham, Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillos set about recruiting players to take the club to that elusive 'next' level. The signings of Pablo Fornals and Sebastian Haller for a combined £69 Million showed real intent, unfortunately their purchase was a real transfer budget buster! It was already common knowledge that Hammers had a measly £35 Million net in the kitty so player sales and loans were going to be the only options.

Yesterday's friendly 1-0 victory against Fulham played at Craven Cottage should have been a 'football festival of fun', indeed the West Ham players will be happy with their performances and by how many Hammers fans turned out to see their team. The balmy atmosphere of early on in the week had dissipated and was replaced with good old British thunderstorms and the occasional torrential downpour, never the less there were officially just over 2,500 Hammers fans in attendance, unofficially the figure was more like 4,000 given the fact that tickets were available on the door.