Summer Transfer Window 2018

[Colours never run]

It shows me we have a load of players who jack it in as soon as we go a goal down, which means we lack players with leadership and fight.

Has been one of my takes a on it as well. Far too many soft heads down tools far too easily since the move.

[Geoff Peters-Moore]

Steve Walsh.

[bubbles1966]

We let in 3 or more during losses in six times in our first 11 games; we only did it once in the next 14.

We've had this rush of four bad defeats in the absence of a lot of players between February and mid March.

It's about formations, styles and which players are available.

We're far too light on pace and presence at CB and CM; Byram's continual absences leave us without a quicker option at right wing back, and some of our attackers don't put in a shift or offer anything much for the team defensively.

There are decisions to be made about players like Burke, Oxford, Cullen, Fernandes, Byram and Hugill among others.

[MB]

You only have to look at the results under Moyes with and without Masukau to see how a lack of pace kills us.

I still think (hope?) that and the lack of a holding player is the thing holding Moyes back from showing a bit more attacking intent.

His Everton sides were functional and overally cautious against the big boys but they generally played half decent football.

The story about Moyes only really wanting to keep six players rings true as he clearly does not trust many of the current squad so limits what we are set out to do.

[hammerman11]

I agree with you regarding lack of leadership and players going through the motions.

with regards to Burke, Oxford, Cullen, Fernandes, Byram and Hugill I can see us selling oxford to germany for 20m and byram to leeds for 5-10m .
hughill hasnt had a chance so a bit unfair to bin him.

burke cullen and fernandez will be kept on

collins, carroll,snodgrass,hart and mario will all leave the club also.
collins too old now with burke to take his place in the squad ?
carroll is a liability who we need to shift asap 10-15m ?
snodgrass is not good enough championship player 10m to villa ?
hart end of loan wages too expensive and not good enough
mario end of loan and 30m is too much for him

we need a GK, RB, CB, DM,AM and CF a lot of changes to make this summer but the result of the awful recent transfer policy under gsb.

we also need to get Rafa in if there is a chance. at least he can coach a useless bunch of players as seen at newcastle this season.

The west ham rollercoaster will be in full swing this summer hold onto your hat !

[MB]

I don’t get the Rafa love in. Good coach, tactically astute but his football has been as functional as Moyes’ for large parts of his career. The glory days at Liverpool are a long time ago now and he spent a **** load of money to get to that with a lot of it wasted on ill suited players.

He isn’t a “West Ham Way” manager. He has done wonders at Newcastle by making them hard to beat. Take out the games against us and they’ve scored 27 goals in 30 games creating nearly the same number of chances per game as us.

He is a better coach than Moyes, but they are cut from a similar cloth.

[Croydon]

The more I think about the Drinkwater speculation, the more I think it would be a great bit of business by the club.

Great defensively, quality passer, would add composure to the midfield and an Englishman to boot.

He actually reminds me a little of Carrick.

[pezza20]

Drinkwater is a poor man's Mark Noble ... so nowhere near good enough for what we need - he also looked brilliant alongside Kante yet after he left he looked poor - can not get a game for Chelsea. We need to look further afield for this type of player - not taking the easy route of someone's English mans cast offs.

I suspect he may keep Carroll next year but I think we will invest in no more than 5 players with a couple of loans as back up. Chicha will go which is a shame and we'll likely sell Adrian and let Mario go. The plain fact is it's impossible to bring in 8 or 9 players. We have one of the smallest squads now in the premiership, so ideally Moyes would have had at least 3 more first team players to choose from, so if you let 4 or 5 go it means bringing in 8 players ideally - far too many to build a side, we would stand a real chance of losing early games as we pull the side and their understanding together. First one I'd go for is Wood at Burnley, good in the air and pacy, plus proven at this level. 2 or 3 top quality players, spend big on a quality right wing back, a defensive centre midfield player and a centre back who can lead given Ginge's days are numbered.

[upton o'good]

Doubt Burnley will sell anyone this year Pezza, what with the need to have a squad to compete in Europe. :shock:

[Peaches]

I really think we will see the largest squad turnover ever if we stay up, and I don’t think it will be that detrimental. Over the course of this season half the players have barely featured and would barely be missed.
Oxford and Snodgrass spent the whole season out on loan so wouldn’t be missed at all. Byram and Carroll spent almost the whole season injured, Reid, Obiang and Antonio, pretty much the whole second half. Collins has not been used that much and by the summer will have been absent for months. Chicharito has been used sparingly at best. I think Fernandes is a fine player but at the moment he has made half a dozen appearances. Evra was only brought in because of Masuaku’s suspension. and it is hard to saythat either Hart or Adrian are integral.

Realistically we have a core of Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Creswell, Masuaku, Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini ( although he has missed a lot lately and arguably at the moment Joao Mario is part of our core) and Arnautovic,
Drastic change to that core would be detrimental, but large even complete turnover of the remainder of the squad would not, and in my opinion only moderate turnover of our the non core players would resign us to a similar fate next year.

[pezza20]

I really think we will see the largest squad turnover ever if we stay up, and I don’t think it will be that detrimental. Over the course of this season half the players have barely featured and would barely be missed.
Oxford and Snodgrass spent the whole season out on loan so wouldn’t be missed at all. Byram and Carroll spent almost the whole season injured, Reid, Obiang and Antonio, pretty much the whole second half. Collins has not been used that much and by the summer will have been absent for months. Chicharito has been used sparingly at best. I think Fernandes is a fine player but at the moment he has made half a dozen appearances. Evra was only brought in because of Masuaku’s suspension. and it is hard to saythat either Hart or Adrian are integral.

Realistically we have a core of Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Creswell, Masuaku, Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini ( although he has missed a lot lately and arguably at the moment Joao Mario is part of our core) and Arnautovic,
Drastic change to that core would be detrimental, but large even complete turnover of the remainder of the squad would not, and in my opinion only moderate turnover of our the non core players would resign us to a similar fate next year.

Peaches - I'd agree with most of that, however Zabaleta is 35 next year ... he may be kept in to help close games out but can't see him being a starter next year. Fernandez is a strange one, he has an excellent game then a stinker. He is young but is an International so can we afford to retain a player who has one in three good games? I would personally retain him but I'm not Moysie.

So leaving aside Zabaleta your core is just 9 players and one of those is on loan and the dwarf won't pay the money I suspect.

You need a first team core of 18 minimum, so that's 9 to 10 players we need to find, improvements on whoever we let go. We have a few U23's pushing at the door for the subs bench. I suspect he'll keep Carroll, and possible Adrian unless he pushes for a move, so I see 8 to 9 players being required - that is over 100m quid in fees minimum, can you see Sullivan digging deep? I can't. I think it pushes us to retain some of those players who we think may be off, like Chicha, Snodgrass, Oxford, Obiang, possibly Collins as a back up.

[Puff Daddy]

Drinkwater is a poor man's Mark Noble ... so nowhere near good enough for what we need - he also looked brilliant alongside Kante yet after he left he looked poor - can not get a game for Chelsea. We need to look further afield for this type of player - not taking the easy route of someone's English mans cast offs.

I suspect he may keep Carroll next year but I think we will invest in no more than 5 players with a couple of loans as back up. Chicha will go which is a shame and we'll likely sell Adrian and let Mario go. The plain fact is it's impossible to bring in 8 or 9 players. We have one of the smallest squads now in the premiership, so ideally Moyes would have had at least 3 more first team players to choose from, so if you let 4 or 5 go it means bringing in 8 players ideally - far too many to build a side, we would stand a real chance of losing early games as we pull the side and their understanding together. First one I'd go for is Wood at Burnley, good in the air and pacy, plus proven at this level. 2 or 3 top quality players, spend big on a quality right wing back, a defensive centre midfield player and a centre back who can lead given Ginge's days are numbered.

Deep down in your own conscience, can you honestly think of one other Premier League club who would even remotely entertain buying Mark Noble ?

[Peaches]

One player I think we must sign us Alan Browne from PNE. I think he is the most underrated player in the championship, he is very similar to Kante, if anything has a higher work rate. He is out of contract at the end of next season and is the kind of player we desperately need. He may take a little time to get acclimatized to the premier league but he is only 23 today so has plenty of time to adjust and would be an ideal successor to Noble in the heart of our midfield.

[ToiletDuck]

How about Buffon? Might fancy a crack at the prem

Agree with the comments about the need for pace, passing and passion (commitment)

[ryanrc]

Rodriguez just popped up with a goal. I've honestly been really impressed with him the last few weeks and think he'd fit in well here. If it wasn't for his injury record I think he'd be a really good signing and a player that gives it his all.

Foster and Dawson the only other players worth looking at from that team IMO.
I really don't get the fascination with Rondon I think he offers very very little.

[61dicksey]

Rondon is a big old unit and pretty mobile with it but nothing we need.
Foster and Dawson have been immense and would fit in well here.

[funky chicken]

One thing to bare in mind if Moyes stays is he does tend to do a lot of business with Man Utd. He signed loads of players at Man Utd and did so at Sunderland too. I have a feeling we will sign one of their keepers to begin with: Romero or Johnstone. Johnstone will probably join Villa if they go up, so will probably be Romero. Plays for Argentina with Lanzini too doesn't he? Could be both though if we lose both Hart AND Adrian.

And yes it was funny Steve Walsh's name was mentioned in this thread as he's been my darkhorse to be the new 'Director of Football' for a long time. I expect Everton to have a revamp in the summer, so both him and Big Sam will be gone. Everton didn't do good business. But his job is to just identify players. He doesn't have the final say. Koeman does and he messed up big time. Walsh did some very shrewd business at Leicester, finding the likes of Vardy. So can find the odd hidden gem on the cheap and will identify British players too. The former no doubt music to Sully's ears. I can see Moyes more likely to want to work with him then Leicester's Eduardo Macia. And the fact Walsh will be available (I.e, free) will again get Sully all excited.

It sounds highly likely we will target at least 1-2 of Fulham's players if they don't get promoted: Bettenelli, Fredericks, Cairney or Mitrovick (won't join Fulham on permanent if they stay down). So I hope we have back-up options and put all our eggs in one basket expecting any of those players to join if they are promoted as we only stand a chance if they stay down. Bettenelli is guaranteed to be their number 1, Cairney is their captain and 'star' player, Fredericks will surely sign a new contract and Mitrovick will surely stay there where he will be a guaranteed starter rather than our back-up striker.

It's probably between that Cairney and Hibs' John McGinn as the central midfield signing. Who the defensive midfielder will be is anyone's guess. I am sure Moyes would like Fellani. But I expect him to have bigger fish to fry. Move to Italy would be my guess. I have a feeling we will take a gamble on a cheapish player from abroad no one has thought about. An African / Belguim, or French player springs to mind. Or yes we will (IMO) stupidly make a move for the ageing, slow Drinkwater, who isn't completely the answer to our weaknesses in midfield.

If Fulham don't go up I think we will try and get Fredericks, being cheap and all that. Otherwise it'll be a cheapish gamble abroad. Kevin Malcuit is my quiet tip. Didn't Exwhuemployee on the radio show mention on Wednesday we were looking at some Asian players to try and make the club more noticeable there? Minus the Kagawa link I am sure he mentioned 1 name we were looking at (from Germany maybe) as a potential fullback option.

The attacking player will be Joao Mario on a knockdown / loan deal, or Shaqiri as one of the 2 token big money signings Sully traditionally makes every summer. God forbid could be cheapie Kagawa. But I think Moyes likes Mario. He did watch him play and has certainly supported him.

No idea who the centre half/s we will target. Johnny Evans could well go to a big club as a back up. Man City maybe. Or he'll be linked with someone like Everton. He wouldn't be my choice anyway. We have enough 30 year olds at the back as it is. Plus has he really played that well this season? I don't think he has. I expect us to try and move for someone from the Championship (Jansson (Leeds), or Gibson (Middlesbrough)). Or a gamble from abroad (Mina (Barcelona)).


Strikers will be one that can play out wide on a cheap deal (Jonathan Bamba for E.g.) and a target man to replace Carroll/Huggill (Mitrovic / Abraham (Chelsea, loan deal).

[the celestial insect]

Oh, and while we're rebuilding the squad, please also invest in the training facilities. It matters.

[Peaches]

I think their are a lot o& good young players in the Championship. Everyone knows about Sessegnon, Maddison, Traore and Fredricks, but there are a lot of less heralded players who would greatly help us for not a lot of money. I already mentioned Alan Browne from PNE, but his teammate Josh Earle (LB) , Bristol City’s Josh Brownhill (CM who is out of contract in June), Mllwall’s Jake Cooper(CB) are all 23 or under, and are upgrades to our squad if not our first XI. Also Sam Johnstone and Daniel Bentley are two good young (25 and 24) goalkeepers who are arguably as good or better than the two we currently have.
Fredricks, Browne, Brownhill, Earle, Cooper, Johnstone and Bentley are 6 players who would cost less than 25m combined and would seamlessly replace and or upgrade Byram, Obiang, Kouyate, Evra, Collins, Hart and Adrian, are on average 6 to 7 years younger and would cost a fraction of the wages and would still leave plenty of money to snake more ambitious or higher profile signings.

[Ding]

Can’t build a squad in one transfer window. It has to be done over a few. So given the following assumptions:

1. Moyes stays
2. Hernandez goes (15m)
3. Ginge retired
4. Snodgrass sold (8m)
5. Hugill sold (7m)
6. Transfer kitty 40m

I would forget about silly ideas of “marque signings” and buy decent players below the age of 28 in the following positions:

1. 1 x DM 20m
2. 1 x RB 15m
3. 1 x Striker 20m
4. 1 x CH 15m

Then:

1. Extend Mario loan
2. Extend Hart loan

That would give us a balanced squad with more or less enough cover in every position for a year. Then strengthen or upgrade on squad next summer.