Transfer madness of the current regime
- by Matthew Kemp
- Filed: Friday, 20th February 2015
With West Ham on an incredible 38 points in 25 games, their best tally at this stage of a top-flight season since 1985-86 (48 points), when they finished third its smiles all round in the East End of London, or so you would think.!?
January brought with it the transfer window and with many clubs pleading issues with the Financial Fair Play, it was going to be interesting to see what deals went ahead. This included Manchester City, who suggested only loan moves were on the cards, and then splashed £30 million on Wilfried Bony.Ironically, Bony was a player that David Sullivan publically stated was his preference over Andy Carroll several years ago. He stated in the Telegraph, in early January: “I would have bought Wilfried Bony - £8 million and £40 grand a week ... Swansea paid £12million. I had him bought for £8million.”
However, Sam wanted Carroll, and they backed their manager. The message was clear and simple, and inevitably Allardyce had to respond, which he did in his Evening Standard column. "My recollection was that, yes, we knew about Bony but we all agreed to go for Carroll — with the caveat that if the deal didn’t work out for any reason, we would switch to Bony," he said.
"Whatever anyone says now, at the time a bid for Bony, unproven in English football, would have represented a bigger risk than Andy, an established Premier League player. The likelihood of achieving success, had we signed Bony, was far less than with Carroll. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but, at the time, we were looking at these two possibilities."
The question of how we conduct our transfers has come under much scrutiny in the Gold/Sullivan era. It began many years ago with Togo international, Razak Boukari. His agent Wille McKay was instrumental in setting the deal up and the player flew over to join from Rennes, yet was dumped at the last minute and joined Wolves with Matt Jarvis moving to us in the opposite direction.
Only last January the Hammers had agreed a fee for Rael Loe from La Liga club, Osasuna, and the tall Cameroon international travelled to London for a medical. The player was sent back to Spain, as the club decided to sign Antonio Nocerino on loan instead. As a footnote, this player is no stranger to loan moves, having signed for Torino on a season long loan, Parma have now taken on this agreement for the remainder of the season!
Wellington Paulista is another curious transfer dealing. Rarely acknowledged by Sam, it was clearly one of Sullivan's deals. The Brazilian had a track record of scoring goals, and continued this run in the reserves. He joined Criciuma and scored 11 in 24 appearances, and now plays for Internacional, with his Wikepedia page showing seven goals in eight appearances.
Honduran international, Roger Rojas was another that quitely slipped the net. Again, Sam remained tight lipped about the player, and much of the news was generated by Jack Sullivan on his twitter page.
Back in August 2013, it was reported the striker was on his way to London to sign on loan, only to fail a medical and return to South America. The player has since been loaned out by club side Olimpia to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq for this season where he has scored five goals in three appearances, yet his stay was cut short and subsequently loaned to Necaxa in Mexico.
Another transfer, that has clearly delighted us all was Diafra Sakho from Metz. There have been public disagreements as to who made this signing, yet again my money is on Sullivan.
The club had agreed a fee, and the player passed a medical. West Ham then suggested it should be a loan move only, with Sakho reportedly flying back to France in tears. West Ham, at the time were heavily linked to Connor Wickham, yet couldn't agreed a transfer fee with Sunderland, so it was only when Sullivan intervened that a permanent deal for Sakho was completed.
Mauro Zarate was clearly a Chairman's signing, as the player had been at Birmingham during their reign. The striker was top scorer last season in the Argentinian league.
Again, he clearly wasn't in Sam's plans and subject to fitness issues now has a chance to prove at QPR that he can play at this level. It was reported that West Ham tried and get him back with Matt Jarvis reportedly looking to join QPR on loan instead, yet the Premier League would not sanction this move.
The inevitable injury to Carroll left West Ham with only three fit first team strikers for the remainder of the season, and David Sullivan reported that West Ham would look to sign an out of contract striker.
The media seized upon the opportunity to link us to another ex-Allardyce player, Nicolas Anelka, yet the player's form has dipped and at the age of 36 was an unlikely target. It then emerged that we had signed former Paris St Germain winger Nene on a short-term deal until the end of the season.
The Brazilian netted 20 times in 43 league appearances for Al-Gharafa across two-and-a-half seasons with the middle east side before being released from his contract at the end of January. The transfer has been shrouded in mystery, as some nwes sources covered a story that suggested David Gold held a meeting with Sam to discuss the signing, yet the manager was reportedly not keen on the player.
During the transfer window deadline the club were linked to a number of players. Younes Kabol, Sylvain Distin and Emmanuel Adebayor - yet none signed - and Kara Mbodji who is at Gent (another player that is likely to be a target of our Chairmen as opposed to our manager) is more than likely one for the summer window, having been recommended to the club by Alex McLeish.
In fairness though Sam identified Alex Song as a target, who has been an inspirational loan signing. The move to bring Darren Fletcher in from Manchester United was also prompted by the manager, though a short-term loan deal was also my preference, over a three-and-a-half year contract for a player in his thirties. It seems the chairman also shared my view and the player returned to Manchester to sign for West Bromwich Albion on deadline day.
It is likely that Sam will not be offered a new contract when his current one expires and I would be surprised if there aren't other clubs looking to employ his services in the summer. He has met most of the targets set by the club, yet has failed to win over many of the fans.
The club demands entertaining football, and I am sure Allardyce in his leaving speech will recite his original comment made when he first joined about "What is the West Ham way..?" What is clear though, is that Gold and Sullivan are both owners and fans. They want what is best for the club, so watch this space!
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