Rather than merely keeping on picking at the open sore of failed negotiations for Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes, West Ham United do seem to have viable alternatives to chase. With just ten days left to bring in two midfielders and endeavour to dig themselves out of the pit that Potter’s tactics and ‘the boards’ sell before buying declaration has landed them in, nobody is especially confident that they’ll achieve more in ten days than they did in the first four months of transfer activity.
However, actions speak louder than words and so the leadership will be judged by who comes through the door before deadline day, rather than on endless ‘shortlists’ of players.
We’ve all had it up to here with in-the-knows, leaks, reports, links and suggestions: After 200 names being ‘linked’, one more to add to the list of failed ‘targets’ at this stage of the window is not going to have fans, journalists or bloggers jumping cartwheels.
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Good however, that rather than returning again with another pitifully low offer to Southampton, the leadership have decided, in view of the rapid approach of the closure of the window and the awful results to date, to move on. Sadly, Yesterday’s reported ‘target’, Soungoutou Magassa appears to be heading towards Nottingham Forest who have apparently bid more.
As Matt wrote yesterday the focus appears now on Champions’ League – calibre midfielder Kenneth Taylor.
givemesport.com confirms: *“West Ham United are showing interest in a late summer swoop for Ajax midfielder Kenneth Taylor, according to guardian Journalist Jacob Steinberg.*”
Whilst Taylor may be a ‘near unknown’ he does have a pedigree and potentially the ability to take over from the departed Edson Alvarez in that defensive midfielder role. Whether he can shore up the centre of the pitch who knows- but somehow the Hammers have to pick themselves up and plug the deficiencies in a midfield that was again overrun last night.
GMS’s report suggests that “Taylor is believed to be seen as an alternative to Fernandes, alongside Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmidt and Feyenoord’s Quinten Timber. The 23-year-old, who was once compared to former Germany international Toni Kroos for his style of play, has been a key player for Ajax over the past three seasons. He has amassed 167 appearances for the Eredivisie giants, scoring 34 goals and providing 23 assists, and helped Ajax qualify for the Champions League last term after a two-year absence.”
On just about £20k a week at Ajax, there’s a lot of pulling power in the Premier League for Taylor. West Ham can easily treble his wages- especially now Edson Alvarez’ £100k plus is not in the weekly payroll. Which is all well and good : Will Sullivan, Potter and Macaulay between them manage to get a deal for Taylor over the line? Seems like they’ve missed out on Magassa too.
You kind of feel on the balance of probability that even West Ham cannot keep cocking up negotiations for every player they aim at: Add in a fair slug of desperation, and you never know, they just might get this one done.