It has finally happened! We have finally signed a next level player!! As long as he has been linked with a move away from Arsenal he has been linked with us, partly due to that fact it is known we are his boyhood team.
The fact that he is also a fan seems to have played a big factor in his decision to come to us and the compromises made financially that have allowed the move to go through on his behalf. He is known to have had offers in the region of £130k a week on the table with us very interested in the player but the wages being too rich for us. It looked as though a move to turkey was on the card and with reports of him and his father flying to out for negotiations. Then all of a sudden it we were back in the race with the player himself revealing he had met with Pellegrini and just a few days later we have got our man.
People will question his fitness record but just as many people will claim we should keep AC because he can score when he’s fit. Some gambles are worth taking and personally I thought we should have tried to buy Wilshire years ago once it was clear he had fallen out of favour with Wenger. But we have got him on a free. When he is fit and on form he IS the best English midfielder in my opinion and how he is not in Russia right now I do not know.
Technically what can’t he do? He is a true box to box midfielder and will add so much to our midfield. I really hope that he and Rice can strike up a bit of a partnership because them two sitting behind Lanzini (or whoever we can sign in his absence) is the most exciting central midfield we have had since the days of Cole and Carrick. He has played at the very top, bossed games in the Champions League against one of the best Barcelona midfields in recent times!!
Clearly I rate him, very highly! But who have we had in this position that can even compete with his quality in the last 15 years? If as a club we are to move forward this is exactly the type of signing that can make a difference. I think that much of him that he is someone I focussed on in a previous blog regarding the key players we should try to sign to really help us kick on as a team.
A few months ago we had a manager that seemingly no one had faith in, the football was boring and at best we hoped we would at least stay up and get pretty much anyone in to manage next season because it was just becoming more and more boring each week. Yet here we are with still well over a month in the transfer windows and we have made big strides towards improving on last season. A new manager and one of the best English footballers of his generation later and things don’t seem too bad to me if you ask me. I am not pro board just yet but hats off to them, we are signing proven quality and provided this isn’t a one off and this is the calibre of personnel we look to recruit then in another 2 or 3 seasons or so we will on the pitch be unrecognisable from the west ham of the last 2 seasons.
2 or 3 good quality additions and we will be a dangerous team next season. I imagine not everyone will be happy but other than his injury record (He has played in excess of 30 games for the last 2 seasons) which is not really a concern to me as we have seen anyone can fall victim to a major injury. So what concerns could you have because all I can see is positives!!
What a week to be a West Ham fan, JACKS COMING HOME!!! FOOTBALLS COMING HOME!!!
Written By Jack | @myWHUopinion