53 day's to go
Hammer time: Andy Carroll (left), Kevin Nolan and Winston Reid (right) model the new West Ham kit
On Cloud Nine: Carroll holds up his shirt after signing for West Ham
Kneesy does it: Carroll celebrates scoring for West Ham against Southampton last season
Anfield of dreams: Carroll was reluctant to leave Liverpool despite his £35m move not working out
Man management: West Ham boss Sam Allardyce (left) sold Carroll the idea of a permanent move to Upton Park in the summer
Carroll always seemed nailed on for his Hammers move but he was reluctant to leave his Anfield of dreams
When Andy Carroll officially signed for West Ham last week it all seemed so cut and dried.
Liverpool agreed to sell the striker for £15million and he signed a six-year contract after he had an accelerated medical in London.
Scratch beneath the surface though and Sam Allardyce will tell you that Carroll took some persuading to join him at Upton Park full time.
The England striker was reluctant to sever his ties at Anfield, despite spending a successful season with West Ham.
He had joined Liverpool for £35m in January 2011 and he didn’t want to give up on his career at the five-time European Cup winners so easily.
Ultimately Carroll was always going to leave Merseyside this summer, but it says something about him that it took him time to adjust to the idea.
Naturally it will be confusing for him. How can a football club spend a record British transfer fee of £35m on a player and then decide within two years that he isn’t good enough to play for them?
It’s something Carroll struggles to understand and it’s hard to blame him, particularly when they accepted a £20m loss on him last week.
Walking away from Liverpool is difficult for any player, particularly when they believed so highly in him when they signed him from Newcastle.
He arrived when Fernando Torres was leaving for Chelsea during that extraordinary period in January 2011.
Liverpool’s former director of football Damien Comolli had courted him and the club’s then caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish believed he was a big asset.
Carroll bought into Liverpool’s history and heritage, recognising that he was registered with one of the most powerful voices in football.
There had been times at Liverpool, notably when he scored against Chelsea in the FA Cup final in 2012 after coming on as a substitute, when he looked as though his future could still be with them.
In the semi-final the previous month, his Liverpool team-mate Jamie Carragher had launched a passionate defence of the striker during a live television interview.
Carroll had scored the winner against Everton at Wembley in the semi-final three minutes from time. ‘For me that goal was worthy £35m,’ Carragher said at the time.
Carragher is no-one’s fool. The former Liverpool defender knows a player and he bought into Carroll’s physical approach up front.
Prior to the 2012 FA Cup final Carragher said: ‘Andy has got all the attributes you need to be a top centre forward. Now that he is in the England squad he can establish himself as the country’s No 9 for the next decade. We will be looking for him to do that with Liverpool.’
They believed in his ability, but his style isn’t suited to the swift interchanges and flexibility of Brendan Rodgers’ teams.
At times last season Carroll was convinced that he could still make an impression at Anfield after a year being picked regularly by West Ham.
He believes he is a better player, more rounded and experienced.
In demand: Vydra has attracted interest from a host of Premier League sides
Swansea City, West Brom, West Ham and Sunderland have all made moves to land Udinese striker Matej Vydra on loan.
The Czech international, 21, scored 24 Championship goals on loan at Watford last season and his agent, Ondrej Chovanec, revealed on Tuesday that a temporary move back to Britain is on the cards after the collapse of his proposed transfer to Werder Bremen.
Chovanec is quoted in the Cezch Republic as saying: 'We agreed that none of the offers (for a permanent transfer) are in the region that would interest Udinese.
'They don’t want to sell him for £8million, so they have given us freedom to discuss loan spells with the Premier League clubs that are interested.
'At the moment we have offers from four Premier League clubs – West Brom, West Ham, Swansea and Sunderland.
'At Udinese they don’t want Matej to have to get used to life in a different country, so now it seems likely that he will be playing on in England.
Doubtful that West Ham will be signing Vitesse Arnhem striker Wilfried Bony
West Ham United are reportedly keeping tabs on Vitesse Arnhem striker Wilfried Bony. The Hammers have succeeded in landing Andy Carroll from Liverpool and are now believed to be looking for a natural goalscorer to partner the Englishman in the attacking third.
Although manager Sam Allardyce would hope to start Romelu Lukaku up front with Carroll, a failed loan deal attempt for the Belgian could lead the club to bid for the £15 million rated Bony according to rumours in the international media. The Ivorian who has scored an incredible 35 goals in 29 appearances for his club last season, has also long been a coveted target for North London side Arsenal.
Sadly for Hammers fans we are going to need to complete debunk this story and declare it as a pile of unwanted trash. While Bony would have been a fantastic acquisition for the club, we just don’t think West Ham have the funds to be able to spend 30 million pounds on two strikers this summer. Bony will be too expensive for the Hammers, and quite honestly if they could have landed him, Big Sam should have spent the money on the Ivorian rather than England’s non scoring striker.
West Ham Target Winger
Jefferson MonteroWith rumours circling of the imminent departure of Matt Taylor and Ricardo Vaz Te, Big Sam seems to have set his sights on Ecuadorian winger Jefferson Montero.
Sky Sports are reporting that we are one of four clubs looking to get Montero to put pen to paper, with Hull, Swansea and West Brom also interested.
The 23 year old attacker has played previously for Villareal, and is currently plying his trade with Mexican team Morelio. He has been on the Premier League’s radar for a few months, nearly completing a transfer to Wigan in January.
Dan Chapman, solicitor at Contact Sports, revealed:
“Jefferson is ready to move to England. We can confirm a number of clubs are showing an interest, which is not surprising after his performance against Argentina last week.”
With Andy Carroll’s move needing to be funded, it looks like Montero could be a cheap replacement for Vaz Te if reports are to believed and he is on his way.
I must say I hadn’t heard a lot about him until recently, but let’s just hope if he does move to East London, this speedy South American has more luck in the Premier League than Pablo Barrera!
What do you think? Should Big Sam punt for Jefferson or stick to Vaz? Leave me a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
Manchester United manager David Moyes will attempt to convince striker Wayne Rooney, 27, to stay at Old Trafford.
Daily Mirror
Chelsea have told Napoli they will not pay more than £40m for 26-year-old striker Edinson Cavani.
Daily Star
Newcastle United are preparing a £12m bid for 27-year-old Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Daily Mail
Shakhtar Donetsk claim Liverpool target Henrikh Mkhitaryan has failed to report to their pre-season training camp in Austria with the 24-year-old apparently frustrated his £23m deal to the Reds has not been secured.
Daily Mirror
Carlo Ancelotti's arrival at Real Madrid as manager means the club will sanction 25-year-old striker Gonzalo Higuain's move to Arsenal or Juventus soon.
Independent
Everton are interested in signing CSKA Moscow's 27-year-old midfielder Keisuke Honda as interest in their midfielder Marouane Fellaini, 25, increases.
Daily Mail
Spanish side Villarreal will compete with Sunderland for Tigre full-back Lucas Orban, 24, after the conclusion of the Argentine league.
Sunderland Echo
Swansea boss Michael Laudrup is interested in Vitesse Arnhem's Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony, 24.
South Wales Evening Post
Stoke have identified Blackburn's Martin Olsson, 25, and PSV Eindhoven's Erik Pieters, 24, as possible solutions to their problem left-back slot.
Stoke Sentinel
GLOBAL GOSSIP (sourced by BBC Monitoring)
Monaco midfielder Alexandros Tziolis, 28, has joined Greek side PAOK FC.
Sport 24
Italian side Genoa have opened negotiations with Sevilla over Spanish defender Alberto Botia, 24.
Marca (in Spanish)
Paris St-Germain could still appoint Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger next summer despite bringing in Laurent Blanc as their new manager.
Daily Mirror
Outgoing England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce will leave behind a detailed analysis of his players' failures at the recent Euro Championship.
Daily Telegraph
Former Netherlands great and Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff believes the Spanish club should have considered selling forward Lionel Messi, 26, now they have signed 21-year-old Brazilian attacker Neymar.
Marca
WEST HAM are closing in on wingerJefferson Montero.
The Ecuador ace, 23, plays for Mexico’s Morelia and has a £3.5million buy-out clause.
CRYSTAL PALACE want 21-year-old Crawley defender Joe Walsh (left).
Reds supremo Richard Low said: “If we get a good offer for somebody we will listen.”
OSCAR GARCIA is preparing to take over at Brighton.
But the ex-Maccabi Tel Aviv chief will only be interim boss while Gus Poyet fights his sacking.
NIGEL ADKINS has signed Hoffenheim’s USA ace Danny Williams for Reading.
The midfielder, 24, could be joined by £1.5million Middlesbrough striker Marvin Emnes, 25.
AARON HUGHES wants to fight for his Fulham future, saying: “I’ll be doing my best in pre-season to make sure I’m in the boss’ thoughts.”
SHEFFIELD UNITED have signed striker Febian Brandy, defender Sean McGinty, and midfield duo Stephen McGinn and Jasper Johns.
BLACKBURN have snapped up 19-year-old defender Todd Kane on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea.
ATLETICO Madrid and German side Dortmund are both chasing Southampton and Uruguay star Gaston Ramirez, 22.
ITALIAN giants Napoli are in talks to turn Leyton Orient into a satellite club.
FULHAM midfield man Alex Smith, 21, has become League One Swindon’s first summer signing.
DONCASTER are set to raid local rivals Barnsley for keeper Luke Steele and defender Bobby Hassell.
KEEPER Matt Duke, 35, a hero of Bradford’s Capital One Cup run last season, has left City for Northampton.
CARDIFF look set to land Victor Wanyama after he KO’d a £12million move to Southampton.
Talks with the Celtic ace, 21, broke down over terms.
SWANSEA are keen on a loan deal for Udinese striker Matej Vydra.
The impressive Czech, 21, banged in 24 goals while on loan at Watford last season.
AMBITIOUS League One Preston have held talks with former England star Kevin Davies.
The veteran striker, 36, has been released by Bolton.
SUNDERLAND and Cardiff are set for a £2million battle over Le Havre whizkid Benjamin Mendy.
Arsenal are also trailing the 18-year-old defender.
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