Hammers unveil Chicharito
Javier Hernandez was finally announced as a Hammers player last night, as Chicharito fever kicked in amongst The Claret and Blue Army. The former Manchester United man became Mexico’s all-time leading goal-scorer in May and has joined for a fee of around £16 million from Bayer Leverkusen, which is being hailed as the bargain of the summer. “The Little Pea” was unveiled in Claret & Blue on the club’s official Facebook account, after a delay of 15 minutes from the estimated announcement time. Hernandez was a two-time Premier League winner at Old Trafford and joins the likes of former rivals Pablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart as well as Stoke winger Marko Arnautovic as this summer’s arrivals so far. So, with less than three weeks till the start of the 2017/2018 Premier League season, how will our new stars fare in their first Hammers campaign?
Hammers arrive in Germany
Slaven Bilic and our first-team have touched-down safely in Germany, after making the trip from London’s Stanstead Airport yesterday morning. New-signing Marko Arnautovic has joined up with the boys for the final two legs of the European tour, where we will face Altona 93 and Werder Bremen in Deutschland and Manchester City in Iceland. Javier Hernandez is also set to join the squad this week, as he prepares for his return to the Premier League. We played out two friendlies during our time in Austria – a draw against Sturm Graz ll and a victory over Fulham in Graz. So, will our final 2017/2018 season preparations bring more pre-season victories?
U23’s sail to weekend win over Daggers
Our bright young U23 starlets overcame the stern test of Vanarama National League side Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday with a 1-2 victory over John Still’s men. The boys were in familiar surroundings at their home ground of The Chigwell Construction Stadium, where they will play PL2 Division One Football next season. They took the lead early through a neat Jahmal Hector-Ingram finish after being put through by Joe Powell. However, the home side would equalise with little time remaining in the tie, when Mason Bloomfield converted from the penalty spot. The young Hammers had tasted defeat in their opening two friendlies of pre-season against Colchester United and Barnet, but were in no such form on Saturday when Dan Kemp notched a significant late winner in the dying embers of the fast-paced encounter. The U23’s will now face off with Slovakian Top-Flight sides Spartak Trnava and FC ViOn Zlate Moravce in a gruelling tour of the country commencing in the next few days. The rest of pre-season should prove perfect preparation for the tough tests that lay in waiting for the young Hammer’s in their first season in The PL2 Division One.
Transfer gossip: Hammers still on the hunt for attacking options
It has been reported this week that David Gold and David Sullivan are holding advanced talks to sign yet another Mexican, this time in the form of Benfica forward Raul Jimenez. The 26-year-old is understood to be keen on a move to London and The Premier League, but the Portuguese club do not seem to share the same views on his departure from the country. The former Atletico Madrid man has also just been on international duty with Mexico at The Confederations Cup in Russia, and is of high attacking pedigree. So, could the former Olympic Gold Medallist be set to join fellow Green, White and Red international Javier Hernandez at The London Stadium?
It has also been rumoured in the last few days by The Express that Turkish outfit Antalyaspor could be a potential threat to our move for Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere. The Riza Calimbay managed side finished fifth in The Super Lig last season, and have been confirmed to have approached The Gunners for the 25-year-old. So, could a move to Eastern-Europe tempt the boyhood Hammer into putting off a dream move to The London Stadium?