What fresh hell is this? It's not even March but here come the transfer rumours again!!!

ASLEFshrugged

We've been linked with Solanke by just about every pundit and their dog

The Sun reckons we could cash in on Aguerd in order to buy a "quick and tough defender" while talkSport have linked us with Ipswich 24yo LB Leif Davis

Meanwhile the Daily Mail reckon Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning a massive clear out including Antony, Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Donny van de Beek, Facundo Pellistri, Hannibal Mejbri and Alvaro Fernandez. I will admit I don't know who some of those last ones are

At the same time Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial, Jonny Evans and Tom Heaton are all set to leave on frees while they won't be making Sofyan Amrabat's loan permanent.

At least it is going easier to find a parking space at Carrington

Lukerz

I didn’t know Roy Keane had a dog.

alderz

Lukerz said:

I didn’t know Roy Keane had a dog.

Someone doesn’t remember the 2002 World Cup

PrestonHammer

I don't know about a dog but in 2002, Roy had a bee that spent most of its time in his bonnet.

Deanscaleshammer

I like the idea of Roy Keane wearing a bonnet.

Bazshuayi

Fulham, Everton, West Ham and Wolves are monitoring Galatasaray's 31-year-old Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha

I know at least one person who wouldnt like that...

ASLEFshrugged

Bazshuayi said:

Fulham, Everton, West Ham and Wolves are monitoring Galatasaray's 31-year-old Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha

I know at least one person who wouldnt like that...

What is the sources for this?

Bazshuayi

via BBC gossip...

Fulham, Everton, West Ham and Wolves are monitoring Galatasaray's 31-year-old Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha. (Ekrem Konur)

PrestonHammer

None of those teams seemed interested in him when he was available for free, so not sure they would be interested in buying him for a fee.

ASLEFshrugged

Ekrem Konur, Turkish journalist, said we'd sign Patson Daka in 2021, that we'd sign Anderlecht's CB Zeno Debast last summer and reckoned Cornet was going to Forest in January

Now there's a man with reliable insider knowledge...

I Googled that in 10 minutes

Bazshuayi

I wonder who he thinks is coming to us this summer

IronHerb

Bazshuayi said:

I wonder who he thinks is coming to us this summer

Ten Haag? 😂

Bazshuayi

He's about a Three Haag currently

MIAHammer

Claret & Hugh reporting that we won't meet Ben Johnson's "demand" for $50K/week.

A highly placed source at West Ham told Claret & Hugh, “We won’t pay that sort of money so sadly if he leaves, he leaves.”

If true, it looks like he'll be on his bike this summer. And good luck to him. Personally, I think it's a poor decision by us.

ASLEFshrugged

According to various sources £50k pw would put Johnson on more money than Coufal and on equal pay with Aguerd and Mavrapanos

Don't think he's as good as any of them

thornburyiron

Can’t see him getting £50k per week anywhere let alone with us. Beats me why all these players at clubs who can’t seal a regular starting place feel they’re worth a lot more money.
If full internationals as per Aslef’s post are not on that then Johnson and most likely his agent need to have a serious think.

claretandbluesky

I would have said 50k a week for a squad member seems an awful lot, Mavropanos was bought as a squad member so I am surprised he is on 50k. I guess these figures may not be accurate anyhow.

Coufal has been exceptional value and must push Dawson for the value buy of the Moyes era.

steve

Really dont rate Ben Johnson .championship player at best ,So wont be two upset if he goes

buffybegood

I'd be less bothered by him leaving if we weren't already facing having to bring in a lot of new players in the summer. £50k a week does feel too much though.

MIAHammer

MIAHammer said:

Claret & Hugh reporting that we won't meet Ben Johnson's "demand" for $50K/week.

A highly placed source at West Ham told Claret & Hugh, “We won’t pay that sort of money so sadly if he leaves, he leaves.”

If true, it looks like he'll be on his bike this summer. And good luck to him. Personally, I think it's a poor decision by us.

I made the mistake of taking C&H info on players salary at face value :-(

Coufal is clearly underpaid by today's standards.

Maybe $50K is too much (and who knows if that info is real) for a squad player but considering who we have right now I still think it would be a mistake to left him go. Especially if we look at how much we're spending on Kalvin Phillips and Danny Ings.

The other thing is who are we going to bring in and how much will that cost us (salary and transfer fee)?

Bazshuayi

ASLEFshrugged said:

According to various sources £50k pw would put Johnson on more money than Coufal and on equal pay with Aguerd and Mavrapanos

Don't think he's as good as any of them

Indeed he may not be as good as the others mentioned. However, he can/has played at RB, LB, CB (guessing wingback too) and in Midfield which I doubt the others are versatile enough to do. 50K isnt to be sniffed at but he's home grown and can fill in, in plenty of places. I wonder who we would get in a similar vein. Surprised there's not been a comromise. I dont recall what hes on but couldnt we offer 35-40K? (plus appearance bonuses so if hes playing then the extra dosh will be fair enough)

MIAHammer

Bazshuayi said:

ASLEFshrugged said:

According to various sources £50k pw would put Johnson on more money than Coufal and on equal pay with Aguerd and Mavrapanos

Don't think he's as good as any of them

Indeed he may not be as good as the others mentioned. However, he can/has played at RB, LB, CB (guessing wingback too) and in Midfield which I doubt the others are versatile enough to do. 50K isnt to be sniffed at but he's home grown and can fill in, in plenty of places. I wonder who we would get in a similar vein. Surprised there's not been a comromise. I dont recall what hes on but couldnt we offer 35-40K? (plus appearance bonuses so if hes playing then the extra dosh will be fair enough)

From what I gather he’s on £20K, Coufal is on £35K and Mavrapanos, Aguerd & Cresswell are on £50K.

buffybegood

It's a tough call, because, with no transfer fee to pay, the cost of retaining Johnson, even on 50k a week, is likely to be a lot less than buying a player in and paying them a lot less. For example, buying a £10m player on a 4 year contract will cost nearly 50k a week in amortisation of the transfer fee, before you even look at his wages.

It's basically the same as when you sign a player on a free; that player demands higher wages (and usually a higher signing on fee) simply because you don't have to pay a transfer fee. The issue you may then have is that the wages aren't in line with players already in the squad who were bought from other clubs are are on lower wages, and that's where we are with Johnson I feel. From a direct cost to the club a wage of 50k a week with no transfer fee makes economic sense, but the indirect cost on other wages may make it more expensive.

OutcastLondoner

He might also be asking for 50k because he does struggle for games here and is shifted about into different positions. It doesn’t mean he’d ask for 50k at a club where he’s more likely to play.

He’s had some bad periods and he’s had some good periods. I think he’s generally a solid defender and like Baz, think the question of who we’d bring in is a tough one. Look at our other defender signings - Mavropanos looks very average to me, people seem to have soured on Aguerd. Signings we’ve had a lot of excitement about haven’t gone as planned. It might not be so easy to fill Johnson’s role.

MIAHammer

OutcastLondoner said:

Look at our other defender signings - Mavropanos looks very average to me, people seem to have soured on Aguerd. Signings we’ve had a lot of excitement about haven’t gone as planned. It might not be so easy to fill Johnson’s role.

Thilo Kehrer is another that didn’t pan out. Are we still paying part of his wages?

alderz

And there were reports Kehrer was on much more than Johnson is apparently asking for.

MIAHammer

Rumor is that Kehrer’s move to Monaco will be permanent. Apparantly the option to buy is now an obligation to buy as all of the parameters of the loan deal have been met.

https://footballexpress.in/sources-confirm-west-ham-players-exit-sealed-but-player-wont-confirm/

OutcastLondoner

MIAHammer said:

OutcastLondoner said:

Look at our other defender signings - Mavropanos looks very average to me, people seem to have soured on Aguerd. Signings we’ve had a lot of excitement about haven’t gone as planned. It might not be so easy to fill Johnson’s role.

Thilo Kehrer is another that didn’t pan out. Are we still paying part of his wages?

Forgot about Kehrer! He’s a great comparison. Able to play lots of positions like Johnson, came from PSG and played plenty for Germany. You’d think he was a safe bet but I wouldn’t say he was ever any/much better than Johnson.

PrestonHammer

I reckon Johnson's best position is centre back.

IronHerb

PrestonHammer said:

I reckon Johnson's best position is centre back.

Didn’t we try him there at Brighton last season?

ASLEFshrugged

PrestonHammer said:

I reckon Johnson's best position is centre back.

Maybe when we play with a back three or when we play against teams from lower leagues/Denmark but we never won when he's played as CB in a back four against top flight opposition