It’s getting towards the middle of January and so far West Ham haven’t signed anyone. I’m not sure the owners quite understand how precarious our situation currently is.
As talented as our squad is on paper, we’re talking about individuals rather than a collective and it was clear before the season even got underway that we didn’t have all the pieces of our jigsaw. Geo & Gonzo have previously talked about Leicester and the balance they have within their ranks. Proper attacking full backs, resolute centre backs, three complimentary midfielders, creative wingers and a proven goalscorer. I’ve lost count of how many posts I read in the summer about how we desperately needed to recruit an athletic box to box midfielder and upgrade our full backs. It all fell of deaf ears however, despite how regularly we had to rotate both the right and left back positions last season not because of injury, but because not one player was consistent enough to secure their place.
Gold & Sullivan are often ridiculed for their record regarding strikers and to be fair to them, they’ve spent some decent money in that area. What they don’t seem to realise however, is for that investment to pay off, you need to complete the rest of the puzzle and their reluctance to spend big on full backs and a complete midfielder has meant their attacking investments have been a big waste of money. The board need to finally learn from their past mistakes and invest in the weak areas of our team before they lose their prized place at the Premier League table.
What exactly are we waiting for?
Time is ticking and games have come and gone. Due to their lack of decisiveness, we now find ourselves going in to a very tough run of fixtures hovering around the relegation zone. A win for Bournemouth and Aston Villa today would see the hammers drop in to the relegation places for a second time this year. So why does it feel like we’re wasting time with more long drawn out transfer sagas rather than going and making sure we secure our transfers early and get ourselves out of this mess? I’m sure Gedson Fernandes is highly talented, but are we really sure playing this long-winded game of chess with Benfica will result in getting a player who will revolutionise our season? If indeed we manage to get the player at all.
Despite our pathetic lack of scouts in the field, we should have already identified plenty of options to allow us to move quickly and decisively this window. That often means no lowballing or quibbling over price and that is probably where the issue lies. Now is not the time to negotiate. We need the right players and we need them in now. Fabianski’s injury could become an ongoing issue, we need a goalkeeper who can nail down that number 1 position. That probably isn’t a half injured Darren Randolph. We need a strong centre midfielder who can take the pressure off Mark Noble and Declan Rice and give the team different options. We need a right back, a quality player who can attack and defend. Zabaleta has shown that he probably can’t cope at this level any longer and I still believe Ryan Fredericks is not the long term answer. With Zabaleta moving on in the summer, we will need a right back anyway, let’s get it done now and give them time to settle.
I’m nervous that we’ll still be wondering come the final few days of the January window whether we’re going to sign anybody and if so, just how good will they be. Remember Jordan Hugill?