Already this season there are areas within our team that could need strengthening. The positions I am talking about are left-back, striker, goalkeeper and right-midfield. In particular the striker area as we only have one or two strikers that look like scoring at the moment. Rumours are already rife about the players Sam Allardyce are looking at.
Let’s start with the left-back role should we? At the moment the only left-back with Premier League experience is George McCartney. He is also not looking like the player that he was last season with Sam Allardyce believed to be looking at possible options. One such option would be Jose Enrique from Liverpool. He is just one of many Dalglish signings that Brendan Rodgers is looking at off loading. Enrique was at Newcastle when Big Sam was there, however was only young so didn’t get played often. This could mean that Sam does know what Jose is capable of so could see him as a suitable option at a cut down price. Liverpool can’t really expect anyone to bid any more than 4m maximum for him after they signed him for 6m, and is not the same player that he was at Newcastle. This doesn’t mean he could recapture this form.
Next is the striker role. The two strikers I was talking about earlier on are Andy Carroll and Modibo Maiga. Andy Carroll is on loan from Liverpool and is expected to sign for West Ham at the end of the season following a number of impressive performances. This would make him our record signing at the price of 17m. Modibo Maiga is the only striker to have scored for us this season with two goals, one in the Capital One Cup defeat against Wigan and the other in the 4-1 win against Southampton. So who could West Ham realistically look at in this position. Well that was the rumour that Carlton Cole will be sold and Chamakh from Arsenal will be bought in. This in my opinion is not a good move since he has lack of first team action and has also failed to score in many matches for Arsenal. I would personally like to see Maiga given a fair crack of the whip since he is currentely our top scoring striker.
The goalkeeper spot is one that does worry some people this year. Jussi is currentely West Ham’s first choice goalkeeper, and at times can look very unconvincing, leading to people wanting West Ham to buy another keeper in the transfer window. This would be a wise move as Jussi is also getting on a bit now and at the age of 37 probably has another 3 years left in him. There are plenty of goalkeepers out there such as free agent Craig Gordan who could be a good buy. Craig is the most expensive English goalkeeper there had ever been at the price tag of £7 million and is only 29. At 29 this is still relatively young for a goalkeeper seeing as they can go on to play until the age of 40 such as Brad Freidel. Another option that West Ham could look at is possibly Robert Green, and before you start having a go at me let me tell you why. During his time at West Ham, Green was a good servant to the club making some match winning saves on numerous occasions. Now he has gone to QPR, possibly for more money, but wouldn’t you if you were offered more money after all football is his job. My final reason is that he is now QPR’s second choice goalkeeper, so must be itching to play first team football again something West Ham could possibly provide. Robert Green could be available at around £3 million I reckon.
The final position is right-midfield. It is evident that Big Sam likes to 4-5-1 and as it currentely stands we only have one player who is comfortable in the right midfield role in Jack Collison. Jack is out injured after playing a vital role in getting us promoted from the Championship last year. It is also believed that he is going to retire come the end of this season as a result of his recurring knee injury. Whether this is true or not I do not know. Ricardo Vaz Te has been played in this position this year but as we all know he is a striker. He is also out injured and that leaves us without a player who is happy to play on the right. A solution to this could be Jordan Henderson, another one of Dalglish failed buys. He was a good young player while at Sunderland and a lot was expected of him when he moved to Liverpool under a £16 million move. This pressure could have possibly been his downfall in his Anfield career. If he could prove that he is the same player he was when he was at Sunderland than I reckon that he would be a good move at the right price. I can’t really see Liverpool asking no more than £5-6 million for him.
With all the people I mentioned on this article I reckon that they would help add to the current squad very well. They would also be quite realistic options as I reckon Big Sam could bring the bets out of the them. They might even be the difference between us being relegated and us staying in the division. However at the moment it doesn’t look as if we will be going near the dreaded relagation zone.