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With so much media speculation as to who will go where and who will arrive, it is easy to forget that the Barclays Premier League season starts in just a couple of weeks from today. West Ham have today's 'friendly' against Fulham at Craven Cottage, a hastily arranged game in Austria and a final match against Atletic Bilbao before the season's opener against Manchester City at the London Stadium on the 10th of August.

The huge sums of money in wages and transfer fees associated with players involved in the Barclays Premier League sometimes lead to 'pound blindness', at least in England. West Ham have recruited wisely, as they did last season, but there is one bit of business that pure logic dictates that the club have to do, and that is sell Javier Hernadez.

Although pre-season games don't always give a true picture of how a team will be prepared to start the new season, one glaringly obvious fact has emerged, namely Hammers are woefully short of defensive midfielder, a situation made more pronounced by the imminent departure of Pedro Obiang from the London Stadium. Declan Rice is the number one choice, but with Obiang gone the only recognised first team player is Carlos Sanchez who's woeful performances have been truly lamentable.