After the arrivals of experienced goalkeepers Roberto from Espanyol and David Martin from Millwall following Adrianās departure, the goalkeeper situation has been sorted quickly. These signings will also allow Nathan Trott to go out on loan and gain some vital first-team experience.
Itās no secret that many West Ham supporters were on the backs of Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku last season. With the club now taking an interest in signing Hasan Ali Kaldirim from Fenerbahce, I would expect either Cresswell or Masuaku to depart if that deal was to go through.
In my opinion, the club should look at someone like Jamal Lewis of Norwich City. The 21-year-old left-back made 42 appearances for Norwich last season as they won the championship and he is someone who possesses huge potential at a low transfer fee.
With both Ryan Fredericks and Pablo Zabaleta currently battling it out for the right-back spot, I think the club should loan out Ben Johnson so he can gain first-team experience as Zabaleta, who is 34, may only have one season left, so a new right-back would be required at some point.
With the club linked to Guillermo MaripĆ”n, a centre-back currently with Deportivo AlavĆ©s, he certainly fits the bill for what the club are trying to achieve. At 6ā4, he is strong and commanding in the air and his distribution of the ball is excellent. He could be a replacement for either Angelo Ogbonna or Winston Reid as both arenāt getting any younger.
With regards to defensive midfielders, the club currently have a few options but lack quality to partner Declan Rice, especially with Mark Noble reaching the end of his career and with Pedro Obiang expected to depart this summer. I donāt think we need to sign a defensive midfielder as we have three strong players in that position at the moment. I think Jack Wilshere can play there if needed as he has the tenacity and attitude to break up play as well as creating attacking chances. Robert Snodgrass may be used there too but I think his best position is on the wing. With the arrival of Pablo Fornals, it will be interesting to see what happens in this department.
With Arnautovic looking likely to stay and Javier Hernandez likely to leave, another striker is a priority. The club are heavily linked to Maxi Gomez of Celta Vigo, who has scored 13 goals in 36 games and registered five assists in a relegation-battling side. It will be interesting to see if this transfer happens as the club have limited funds.
The club are also linked with Mario Balotelli of Marseille. I donāt think this would be a good signing as his off-field antics could possibly affect the team and, in my opinion, he doesnāt fit the way Pellegrini wants to play. Someone we could target, should the Gomez deal fall through is Artem Dyzuba on loan, who currently plays in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg. A tall striker who has plenty of goals in him could be a player worth taking.
With Chicharito set to leave, another striker will need to replace him. Maxi Gomez is the ideal striker as he fits the way we play. However, other players Iād like to see us interested in are Mbaye Diagne of Galatasaray, Jack Marriott of Derby County and Artem Besyedin of Dynamo Kyiv.
It will be interesting to see how this summer transfer window pans out.
By Caulay Howell (@Caulay__)