ExWHUemployee shares two reasons why West Ham didn’t sign 30-year-old permanently

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ExWHUemployee explained the intricacies of West Ham’s deal to sign Craig Dawson, when speaking on the West Ham Way podcast (Wednesday, October 21st).

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The Hammers were linked with a 30-year-old throughout most of the summer transfer window.

We ended up signing Dawson on a season-long loan. And there are not many West Ham fans who were excited to see the ex-West Brom defender rock up at the London Stadium.

He is a vastly experienced centre-back, however, and his no-nonsense playing style is ideally suited for some tough away games in the Premier League against the likes of Burnley and Sheffield United.

And the fact that we have only signed him on loan with no option or obligation to buy means that there is literally no risk for West Ham.

Risk free signing for David Moyes

ExWHUemployee explained the reasoning behind the Hammers signing Dawson on loan rather than on a permanent deal, when speaking on the West Ham Way podcast (Wednesday, October 21st):

“We ended up signing Craig Dawson, he is a Will Salthouse player as I’ve clarified before. We were going to sign him on a permanent deal for around £2m. But we were only going to offer him a one or two-year contract and I think he had a three-year contract at Watford. And it proved quite hard to get him to sign when he knew he wouldn’t get a contract the same length as the one he had. Also, because there was quite a lot of negativity from the West Ham fans, the club erred on the side of caution and thought, ‘right we’ll get him on loan, he’s probably only going to be a back up anyway’. He’s seen as a back-up centre-back.”

I think the key takeaway here is that the board actually made a decision influenced by fan pressure.

Let’s have it right. Dawson is a West Ham player this season. So we should get right behind him.

It is still fair to have the opinion that the 30-year-old quite simply isn’t good enough for the Hammers, however.

The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Let’s just hope that the Watford owned centre-back produces the goods whenever he is called upon this season. And if the 30-year-old does impress, then who knows? Perhaps Dawson will be back in east London next season.