Summer Transfer Window 2023

[TRO]

24 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Cash isn't good enough to start and we can't rely upon Young either. RB is a big priority. 

sadly, you are right.

Kyle Walker-Peters?.....Aaron Wan Bissaka?

Edited March 13, 2023 by TRO

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

so no way we need 3 new starters just to get 7th place

I do, I think that a third midfielder  is needed to play with Kamara and Dougie or additional offensive player to move us to that level over a full season. I understand our current form, I understand the players that others may feel we have that could do a job but I really think aside from obviously replacing Bailey we need something more in the midfield/offensive roles to step up to top 7 level consistently imo.

[wict01]

Recency bias perhaps after yesterday but I've always loved Benrahma as a player since our championship days, I wish we'd gone for him in the summer after promotion too so I'd try to prise him out of West Ham whether they stay up or not. Would fit the wide left space for us perfectly I think, he has more quality than he has been able to show in a Moyes setup. 

[MrBlack]

Just now, nick76 said:

I do, I think that a third midfielder  is needed to play with Kamara and Dougie or additional offensive player to move us to that level over a full season. I understand our current form, I understand the players that others may feel we have that could do a job but I really think aside from obviously replacing Bailey we need something more in the midfield/offensive roles to step up to top 7 level consistently imo.

See my follow up post... I include such a player in what I want to see us sign as a minimum. I do think we could still get top 7 without it, but becomes a bit more reliant on luck with injuries. Don't think we're miles apart, more of a nuanced different way of putting the same thing.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

See my follow up post... I include such a player in what I want to see us sign as a minimum. I do think we could still get top 7 without it, but becomes a bit more reliant on luck with injuries. Don't think we're miles apart, more of a nuanced different way of putting the same thing.

Yeah just seen that after I posted my post

[VillaParkAvenue]

4 minutes ago, wict01 said:

Recency bias perhaps after yesterday but I've always loved Benrahma as a player since our championship days, I wish we'd gone for him in the summer after promotion too so I'd try to prise him out of West Ham whether they stay up or not. Would fit the wide left space for us perfectly I think, he has more quality than he has been able to show in a Moyes setup. 

I just had a look and West Ham fans over at KUMB regret getting Benrahma from Brentford instead of Watkins.

I'd like to have both btw

[TRO]

The squad is painfully thin on quality, and numbers,  particularly defenders......The attackers we have, some are questionable.

No more cardboard cut outs on the bench

It needs a good strong Summer.

Edited March 13, 2023 by TRO

[bobzy]

6 minutes ago, wict01 said:

Recency bias perhaps after yesterday but I've always loved Benrahma as a player since our championship days, I wish we'd gone for him in the summer after promotion too so I'd try to prise him out of West Ham whether they stay up or not. Would fit the wide left space for us perfectly I think, he has more quality than he has been able to show in a Moyes setup. 

Never going to happen.  We've got Moreno who plays that attacking wing back role with the defence shifting across (I said in the match thread, I actually think that's why people latched on to Cash playing so poorly - he was tucked in to make the back 3 whilst Moreno bombed forward).  When Digne came on, he also played the attacking wing back role on the left - I just can't see us buying anyone to play on the left, it doesn't make sense.

We need to replace Bailey in the wide forward role (Bailey is good as a squad option) and bring in a centre back - I think those two positions are the most urgent.

The rest really depends on what we do with the youngsters coming through.  Archer will be off the back of 2 Championship loans, Iroegbunam has played a full season at QPR and Aaron Ramsey will have done a full season in essence.  These players will be 21/20/20 respectively and pretty much on the cusp of "do they have a future here?".  If not, I'd expect them to be shifted with others coming in in those areas.

[The_Steve]

We are a very different team with a winger in the mould of Nico Williams. We saw just how influential technically gifted wingers are for West Ham yesterday. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

14 minutes ago, TRO said:

sadly, you are right.

Kyle Walker-Peters?.....Aaron Wan Bissaka?

I've always like Wan Bissaka.

[Delphinho123]

51 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

We are a very different team with a winger in the mould of Nico Williams. We saw just how influential technically gifted wingers are for West Ham yesterday. 

Thing is, Bowen isn’t even that quick/good. It surely can’t be that hard to find somebody like him? 

[The_Steve]

8 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Thing is, Bowen isn’t even that quick/good. It surely can’t be that hard to find somebody like him? 

Benrahma destroyed Cash so I think we will be looking at pace also. But a focus on technical skill over that (especially with Bailey not delivering). Think Spain and France will have a lot of potential transfer options for us. I just don’t know who we’d sign which is exciting as I totally trust Unai in the market compared to Gerrard. 

[burchy]

There are loads of decent RW options for us out there, some more realistic than others but it will be interesting to see who we end up going for. 

[Nicho]

5 minutes ago, burchy said:

There are loads of decent RW options for us out there, some more realistic than others but it will be interesting to see who we end up going for. 

Philogene-Bidace is an upgrade on Bailey and Traore on current showing. 

[Delphinho123]

5 minutes ago, Nicho said:

Philogene-Bidace is an upgrade on Bailey and Traore on current showing. 

Too bloody right.

Honestly, I think we could finish in the top 8 with a better support striker and a better wide player. If we get those two right, we're flying. 

[tomsky_11]

59 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

A new second striker (Bailey or Traore become the backup, the other is sold)

Just thinking about this, if we do buy here, I think we might seriously push to move Bailey on because as a backup he's gonna cost too much:

• He's only on a 4 year deal, and was bought for over £30M. We are probably talking £8M minimum in amortisation.
• Unsure on salary, a google suggests could be in the £5M per season, which would be higher end of the current squad.
• So, good chance he's a £13M a season hit to the P&L, which is possibly the biggest in the squad (I''m guessing Buendia, Carlos, Digne, Watkins and Coutinho are all around the £10-12M mark)
• His contract is up Summer of 2025, next Summer he's down to his final year. If we want to cash in this Summer might be the best time.
• If we can't sell, could be looking a loan with fee and buy option to ease the FFP burden.
• Alternatively, if we think there is still a place for him here, we might want to consider an extension given he'd still only be 27 when current deal expires.

On Bertie, he's probably around £8M a season cost, with only one season left. This summer is the last chance to cash in on him because his deal is up 2024. So we could be looking to move both.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

A new right back (Cash becomes rotation/ backup. Konsa even a potential backup next season)

A new complete midfielder (Guendouzi type).

The good thing about these two positions is McGinn and Cash combined might cost less per season than Bailey in the P&L. Cash is secure to 2027 as well, while there'll need to be contract talks with McGinn soon becuase he's up in 2025 and I think well worth retaining.

On the subject of contracts up in 2025, Watkins is also in this bucket. He's certainly earning himself an extension since Emery arrived. But the fact his deal's up as soon does I think potentially leave him open to being moved on if there are decent offers coming in and Emery want to go in a different direction anyway.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

A cheaper replacement for Digne to free up FFP funds for elsewhere

Might be right on Digne if we can move him on. I think Emery would like to have two players matching profile and abilities of Digne and Moreno. I think this is only worthwhile though if we are looking at a big saving on Digne's current cost plus a decent fee for him (bear in mind it's possible £15M might not be profit on his remaining book value). I'm not sure how likely we are to achieve either of these things though, so it might end up being better to keep the squad more stable.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

(Tim Iroegbunam).

Good chance he's involved I think if we can get him minutes. Same with Aaron Ramsey and Archer, especially if we are moving on both Bailey and Traore.

[MrBlack]

2 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

Just thinking about this, if we do buy here, I think we might seriously push to move Bailey on because as a backup he's gonna cost too much:

• He's only on a 4 year deal, and was bought for over £30M. We are probably talking £8M minimum in amortisation.
• Unsure on salary, a google suggests could be in the £5M per season, which would be higher end of the current squad.
• So, good chance he's a £13M a season hit to the P&L, which is possibly the biggest in the squad (I''m guessing Buendia, Carlos, Digne, Watkins and Coutinho are all around the £10-12M mark)
• His contract is up Summer of 2025, next Summer he's down to his final year. If we want to cash in this Summer might be the best time.
• If we can't sell, could be looking a loan with fee and buy option to ease the FFP burden.
• Alternatively, if we think there is still a place for him here, we might want to consider an extension given he'd still only be 27 when current deal expires.

On Bertie, he's probably around £8M a season cost, with only one season left. This summer is the last chance to cash in on him because his deal is up 2024. So we could be looking to move both.

The good thing about these two positions is McGinn and Cash combined might cost less per season than Bailey in the P&L. Cash is secure to 2027 as well, while there'll need to be contract talks with McGinn soon becuase he's up in 2025 and I think well worth retaining.

On the subject of contracts up in 2025, Watkins is also in this bucket. He's certainly earning himself an extension since Emery arrived. But the fact his deal's up as soon does I think potentially leave him open to being moved on if there are decent offers coming in and Emery want to go in a different direction anyway.

Might be right on Digne if we can move him on. I think Emery would like to have two players matching profile and abilities of Digne and Moreno. I think this is only worthwhile though if we are looking at a big saving on Digne's current cost plus a decent fee for him (bear in mind it's possible £15M might not be profit on his remaining book value). I'm not sure how likely we are to achieve either of these things though, so it might end up being better to keep the squad more stable.

Good chance he's involved I think if we can get him minutes. Same with Aaron Ramsey and Archer, especially if we are moving on both Bailey and Traore.

Aligns with a lot of my thinking on the state of play. 

I can't see us getting enough for Digne to make his sale an FFP boost, so I think he'll stay... but if we could it's a no brainer (in a similar way that Ings was). Old players on big salaries is not good for us, especially if they were signed recently for relatively high fees.

On Bailey, the issue we will have is getting someone to pay a decent amount and him wanting to move there. Noone above us is buying him and very few below us/ abroad can afford to match his wage.  Catch 22 with him as he needs to show he can deliver at this level, but if he does that then we won't really want to sell him. 

[John]

2 hours ago, wict01 said:

Recency bias perhaps after yesterday but I've always loved Benrahma as a player since our championship days, I wish we'd gone for him in the summer after promotion too so I'd try to prise him out of West Ham whether they stay up or not. Would fit the wide left space for us perfectly I think, he has more quality than he has been able to show in a Moyes setup. 

He always seems to look good against us doesn't he? I get the feeling that he doesn't play that well too often though. Both Benrahma and Bowen are players that got a lot of mentions on past transfer windows, but I think UE will be looking abroad for a wide forward in the next window. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by John

[romavillan]

I might be in the minority but I don't think we should be spending £150m on the players. We aren't at that point yet, we aren't gunning for top 6 yet. Emery has a good eye for bringing through younger talent and it looks like we've got over our brain fart Gerrard era transfer policy with the Duràn signing and selling Ings. If we spend £100m on five outstanding young players to add to what we have that have great resale value and can take us forward I'll be ecstatic. I'd actually be worried if we go for 2 or 3 big names at huge prices.

[The_Steve]

15 minutes ago, romavillan said:

I might be in the minority but I don't think we should be spending £150m on the players. We aren't at that point yet, we aren't gunning for top 6 yet. Emery has a good eye for bringing through younger talent and it looks like we've got over our brain fart Gerrard era transfer policy with the Duràn signing and selling Ings. If we spend £100m on five outstanding young players to add to what we have that have great resale value and can take us forward I'll be ecstatic. I'd actually be worried if we go for 2 or 3 big names at huge prices.

I can see us spending big on a young talented winger and some more experienced heads or low risk signings. Unai will know how to work within any budget, but will have the luxury to spend if needed.