As everyone will know by now, Andy Carroll is our main priority this summer. The big man didn’t start off to well at West Ham and picked up a couple of serious injuries but over the past four months he has been quality and has really shown everyone what he is all about. He has obviously impressed the board, as they want to sign Carroll on a permanent deal as soon as possible.
I would imagine that the board would also want to get Mohamed Diame’s contract situation sorted out. I have seen many different figures of what Diame’s release clause is and the board wants to try to work a deal with Diame and his agent to remove the release clause from his contract. He has played an instrumental role in our season this year. I notice that when Diame doesn’t play well that everyone mentions it, which just proves how good of a player he is because everyone knows how well, he can play.
Now we get onto the rumours. Being a West Ham fan, it’s the same old story every year. We seem to get linked with everyone. But I will start with the Left Back position, which has been pretty hot with speculation over the past few months. It started with Maynor Figueroa of Wigan being a done deal. The Left Back is out of contract in the summer and the rumours were that West Ham would bring Figueroa to West Ham on a free in the summer.
However, this has recently changed and everyone is now saying that we are set to sign Razvan Rat who currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk. It is said that we will bring Rat to West Ham, who is also on a free in summer, at the end of the season. The only way we are going to find out is when someone officially signs. Although, it wouldn’t surprise if another name pops up soon.
In the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of speculation that we are the favourites to sign Nathan Redmond. I would definitely welcome Redmond to West Ham, still young and looks a very promising player. Would link up well with Hall and Morrison in the future after their loan spells at Birmingham. However, I can’t see this deal happening at the moment. As mentioned earlier, Carroll is our main priority and Redmond would not come cheap. I would guess that Birmingham would want around £10million for him and considering Carroll will cost around £12million – £14million, I just don’t think we will have the money to also buy Redmond.
Finally, this rumour just made me laugh. The speculation that we were interested in signing Peter Crouch from Stoke. I’m going to get this one wrapped up quickly. We are not going to sign Crouch. If you think we are, then this could be a very long transfer window for you.