WHUFC.com
Zavon Hines is determined to carry on where he left off in last season's Carling Cup
24.08.2009
It was a day of mixed emotions for Zavon Hines on Sunday when as he had his first taste of Barclays Premier League football with West Ham United. Hines' top-tier debut arrived when he came on with six minutes remaining of Sunday's London derby. Sadly, he could not help the home side force a late equaliser after Aaron Lennon had given Spurs a 2-1 lead. "It was a kind of weird day," Hines said. "I was hoping I'll come on for my debut but then we lost so I don't know whether to be happy or sad."
Hines has real cause for optimism after enjoying another promising pre-season in claret and blue. After goals against Grays Athletic and Beijing Guoan in China, Hines latest strike came when he scored a classy second in last Wednesday's 2-1 friendly win at Watford. However, the man who also scored five friendly goals in the summer of 2008, will be not hoping for a case of déjà vu this time around after a knee injury ruled him out for much of last season. "It was good to get out there. It was good to make my debut especially as I've been injured. My main is just to keep fit and try to play games."
Hines now has the perfect platform to get another appearance under his belt when another of West Ham's local rivals visit the Boleyn Ground. Kenny Jackett's Millwall will make the short trip north for Tuesday night's Carling Cup second-round tie. "Hopefully we can turn it around on Tuesday against Millwall and I am involved in that one," Hines said. It is a competition that already holds good memories for the forward. The striker, who was called up to the Jamaica squad for the first time last season, scored on his first-team debut in last season's 4-1 second-round win over Macclesfield Town at the same stage of the competition. "My aim is to try and get on and score at least one or two. I scored on my debut last year and I'm going to try to repeat that."
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Parker predicts strong season
WHUFC.com
Scott Parker was impressed by West Ham United's performance despite losing to Tottenham Hotspur
24.08.2009
Scott Parker is fully expecting West Ham United to have a good season despite the disappointment of a defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
The midfielder was outstanding in Sunday's fixture, setting the tone for a good team display with some poised play and crunching challenges. In front of him, Carlton Cole was also impressive and Parker said his team-mate deserved high praise and not just for the goal that had set the Hammers on the way before Spurs fought back.
"He was fantastic," Parker said. "He wants to do well and perform and score goals, all of which we know he can and is good at doing. He gives his all for the team in every match and leads the line well for us.
"He is a big player for us and is quite rightly getting his rewards by being picked for England - you could see again on Sunday what he can do. We played well and it was a fantastic goal by Coley - I think they gained momentum when they equalised and then went on to get their second goal."
Like most neutrals, Parker felt the Hammers were unlucky to come up short and believed there were plenty of positives to take. "If we can play like we did and be as consistent as we can, then there is no reason why we can't be up there and have a good season," he said. "Tottenham showed what a good squad they have, but we also showed what we could do against a side like that."
The 28-year-old also echoed the sentiments of his team-mates and manager in sending his best wishes to Calum Davenport, who is recovering in hospital after an incident over the weekend. "We just wish him well and that he makes a full recovery. He is a great lad and we are all thinking of him and his family."
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West Ham poised for Chamakh deal
By Simon Austin
BBC.co.uk
West Ham hope to wrap up the signing of Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh this week, BBC Sport understands. The deal depends on the sale of James Collins, who was the subject of a £5m bid from Stoke last week and has also attracted interest from Aston Villa. Morocco international Chamakh, 25, would cost about £7m and is expected to sign a five-year deal at Upton Park. Chamakh scored 14 goals last season to help Bordeaux break Lyon's seven-year monopoly of the French league title. Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola has been told he must sell before he can bring any more players to the club. The Italian has a surfeit of central defenders, with England international Matthew Upson, Welsh duo Danny Gabbidon and Collins and promising home-grown player James Tomkins all vying for two positions. However, he is desperately short of strikers, with Carlton Cole the only fit centre forward in the first-team squad. Villa boss Martin O'Neill travelled to Upton Park to watch Collins and Upson play in the 2-1 home defeat by Tottenham on Sunday.
Zola would be willing to let Collins leave the club but is reluctant to allow Upson to leave unless he receives a huge offer of "Joleon Lescott proportions", BBC Sport understands.
Everton defender Lescott is poised to join Manchester City for a fee believed to be in the region of £24m. Meanwhile, Zola has denied reports that striker Dean Ashton could be about to announce his retirement because of a serious ankle injury. "As far as I know, he's still doing his rehabilitation and I'm hoping to have him in my team," said Zola on Sunday. "He's a player who can make a big difference. Until they tell me something different, I'm hoping he'll come back." Ashton injured his ankle in Zola's first training session with the club in September 2008. The England striker signed for the Hammers from Norwich for £7.25m in 2006 and has made 46 league appearances for them, scoring 15 goals in the Premier League.
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West Ham hammer out £4.3m deal for Lazio striker Goran Pandev
By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 11:50 AM on 24th August 2009
Daily Mail
West Ham United have agreed a £4.3m fee for Lazio's Goran Pandev, according to reports in Italy. The Biancocelesti are said to have accepted the Hammers' offer for that initial figure and would receive 50 per cent of any transfer fee should the 26-year-old be sold in the next two years. West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has been linked with former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli and Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh. But calciomercato.com claim Pandev will move to Upton Park after a move to Zenit St Petersburg broke down. Pandev could make his debut for the Hammers against Blackburn Rovers in the Barclays Premier League this weekend.
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Livorno want more for Diamanti
Sport.co.uk
Author: Andrew Allen
Posted on:24 August 2009 - 3:36 PM
West Ham have been told to up their offer for Livorno striker Alessandro Diamanti, who is keen to try his luck in England.The 26-year-old is under contract with the Italian club until the summer of 2013 and Livorno insist that the Irons have yet to meet their valuation of the player. Club president Aldo Spinelli said: "For the time being we have not received any satisfying offers. There is nothing more to add. "But Diamanti must remain calm, he is under contract and he must only think of playing. The rest, we will consider in the next coming days. Diamanti himself added: "The future will be decided with the president. "There has been this important offer made that could change my life and make me take a leap in quality. It will be a difficult choice to make."
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Redknapp poised for ambitious raid on London rival
Sport.co.uk
Author: Andrew Allen
Posted on:24 August 2009 - 15:27
Harry Redknapp is keeping tabs on West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker and will tempt the Hammers to sell the former England international for £5m before the September 1st transfer deadline, according to The People. The tough-tackling midfield dynamo, who has gained Premier League experience during stints with Charlton, Chelsea and Newcastle United, moved to Upton Park for £7m in June 2007. Voted the East End club's Player of the Year last term, it appears the 28-year-old has finally shaken off the injury troubles which have afflicted him throughout his career. Should Parker make the move to White Hart Lane, he would vie for competition with January recruit Wilson Palacios, Tom Huddlestone, Luka Modric and the blossoming Jamie O'Hara. The report further states that, should the deal be completed, then Jermaine Jenas, who has been consistently linked with a move away from north London in the past year, most notably to Jose Mourinho's Inter, will be allowed to leave the club, with Aston Villa the most likely suitors.
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Zola to stick with big name Hammers
TeamTalk
West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola says he cannot afford to rest players for the Carling Cup clash against Millwall while they work on new signings. Zola's only senior frontline striker is Carlton Cole, with technical director Gianluca Nani and chief executive Scott Duxbury looking to add at least one more forward before the transfer window closes.
Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh has "rejected" a move to Upton Park but the Hammers are understood to still be working on the deal, while Lazio's Goran Pandev and Livorno's Alessandro Diamanti have been linked in Italy with playing for Zola. For now, Zola is short on numbers ahead of what he expects to be hostile atmosphere when they face Millwall. "If I rest players, I've got nobody to play with," he said. "I don't think we're in a position where we can rest many players. We will try to present a team that can do the job."
A heavy police presence is anticipated for the second-round clash between the bitter rivals. "I don't have a background in the match, but they tell me it's a game that they have suggested I don't come to by walking to the stadium," Zola joked. "It's going to be, obviously, a very heated game. We are ready, we are professional, we care about the competition and we'll try to do our best."
Zola is looking to bounce back from the defeat to Tottenham at the weekend when they led through Cole's spectacular opener. "Football is like that," Zola said. "You see some matches as a difficulty. I see it as an opportunity. "We lost a game against Spurs in a very disappointing way, but now we have another opportunity to make it right. I see it that way."
Zavon Hines made his Premier League debut in the defeat and is hoping for another chance against Millwall. "Hopefully we can turn it around on Tuesday against Millwall and I am involved in that one," Hines said. "My aim is to try and get on and score at least one or two. I scored on my debut (in the Carling Cup) last year and I'm going to try to repeat that."
Meanwhile, Zola appears to have closed the door on a return to Upton Park for Lucas Neill. He said: "He was in talks with West Ham, then I find out he was in talks with Galatasaray and with Sunderland. Now I don't know what's going on. "But he's out, and that's no good for him. For the moment, he's not our priority in that position." Midfielder Scott Parker has been impressed with Cole's performances and has tipped him to bounce back from his mistake that gifted Spurs' equaliser. "He was fantastic," Parker said on whufc.co.uk. "He wants to do well and perform and score goals, all of which we know he can and is good at doing. He gives his all for the team in every match and leads the line well for us. "He is a big player for us and is quite rightly getting his rewards by being picked for England - you could see again on Sunday what he can do. "We played well and it was a fantastic goal by Coley - I think they gained momentum when they equalised and then went on to get their second goal."
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Faubert in Italian link
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 24th August 2009
By: Staff Writer
Julien Faubert is being linked with a move to Italy. The newly-converted right-back, who has made an impressive start to the new season is, according to fresh rumours, said to be the target of a bid from Serie A giants AC Milan. Faubert, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Real Madrid cost the Hammers £6million two years ago but has failed to settle at the club.
* In related news, West Ham are being linked with a move for the superbly named Massimo Oddo, who currently plays for Milan. The 33-year-old has recently returned from a loan spell at Bayern when the Germans refrained from taking up their option to buy. Milan have told the veteran that he has no future at the club; the possibility of some kind of swap deal involving Faubert could therefore be on the cards.
* The Sun continue to run with their policy of publishing either a bunch of baloney (Mancini deal done) or stating the bleedin' obvious by 'confirming' that Eidur Gudjohnsen is on the verge of moving to East London. As revealed here on KUMB.com last week Gudjohnsen is on his way out of Barca with the Icelandic striker set to confirm his likely destination within the next few days. The tabloid claims that the deal will be ratified once Gudjohnsen's wage structure is agreed.
* Livorno's Alessandro Diamanti, who was linked with a move to West Ham last week has admitted that he would be interested in a move to London. Talking at the weekend, he said: "I love Livorno but a call from England would really change my life for good. It would be very very hard for me to stay."
* Other players linked with a move to West Ham over the weekend include Marko Pantelic (free agent), Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow) and Newcastle's Andy Carroll.
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Man remanded over player stabbing
BBC.co.uk
A 25-year-old man has been remanded in custody over an attack in Bedfordshire in which West Ham footballer Calum Davenport was stabbed in the legs. Worrell Whitehurst, of Finsley Walk, Derby, was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and driving while disqualified. Mr Whitehurst is also accused of causing actual bodily harm to the player's mother Kim Stupple, 49. The attack took place early on Saturday morning in Kempston. Mr Whitehurst was arrested in Derby on Saturday after the attack at Ms Stupple's home. The 26-year-old footballer is in a stable condition in intensive care at Bedford South Wing hospital after surgery on his legs, while his mother, also in the hospital, is described as stable.
A 19-year-old man arrested after the stabbing has been released on bail by Bedfordshire Police pending further inquiries. Davenport cost West Ham £3m when he joined them from Tottenham during the summer of 2007, but did not figure in the club's first game of this season, at Wolves last week. After struggling to hold down a first-team place he has been linked with a move. Bedford-born Davenport spent a spell on loan at Premier League rivals Sunderland last season and has also been on loan to Watford. The centre-back started his career at Coventry and has played on loan at Southampton and Norwich. Police have appealed for anyone with any information about the stabbing to contact them.
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Hammers in €5million striker bid
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 24th August 2009
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United have made a €5million bid for Macedonian international Goran Pandev, according to reports. Pandev, who has spent the last five years with Lazio is reported to have been the subject of the bid as the Hammers desperately try to boost their attacking options with the transfer window set to close a week from today. According to a report on calciomercato.com, West Ham have offered €5million + 50% of any future transfer fee for the 26-year-old deep-lying striker who had looked set to join Zenith St. Petersburg in a deal worth £13million earlier this year. The 44-times capped international, who is his nation's all-time leading goalscorer began his career in Macedonia with minnows FK Belasica. However he was snapped up by Italian giants Inter at the age of just 18.
Having spent time on loan at both Spezia and Ancona without breaking into Inter's first team Pandev was offered a lifeline when Lazio bought out 50% of his contract from the Milanese. Despite only scoring three goals during his first season Pandev impressed sufficiently for Lazio to buy out the remaining 50% of his contract (from Udinese who had subsequently purchased it from Inter).
However it is in the last three seasons that Pandev has become a player of international repute, so much so that he has been linked with a string of top clubs including Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Chelsea in recent months. Despite the mass interest the striker had signalled his intention to see out his contract - which expires next summer - at Lazio. However West Ham's offer is thought to have tempted the Italian's who face losing Pandev for nothing next summer.
Pandev, who has spent the last five years with Lazio is reported to have been the subject of the bid as the Hammers desperately try to boost their attacking options with the transfer window set to close a week from today. According to a report on calciomercato.com, West Ham have offered €5million + 50% of any future transfer fee for the 26-year-old deep-lying striker in an attempt to steal Pandev from under the noses of Zenith St. Petersburg, whom he was set to join this week.
Pandev, who has spent the last five years with Lazio is reported to have been the subject of the bid as the Hammers desperately try to boost their attacking options with the transfer window set to close a week from today. According to a report on calciomercato.com, West Ham have offered €5million + 50% of any future transfer fee for the 26-year-old deep-lying striker in an attempt to steal Pandev from under the noses of Zenith St. Petersburg, whom he was set to join this week.
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Hammers told to up Diamanti bid
Livorno to consider striker's future
Last updated: 24th August 2009
SSN
Livorno have revealed they are yet to receive 'any satisfying offers' for striker Alessandro Diamanti. Diamanti's contract with Livorno does not expire until 2013 and the Serie A club are determined to keep a player who helped clinch their promotion last season. Livorno stated last week that West Ham were in talks to sign the 26-year-old, while Parma have also been credited with an interest. However, president Aldo Spinelli insists Livorno would only be prepared to sell Diamanti if an increased offer came in. "For the time being, we have not received any satisfying offers. There is nothing more to add," said Spinelli. "But Diamanti must remain calm, he is under contract and he must only think of playing. "The rest, we will consider in the next coming days."
Diamanti expects to learn his fate in the next 24 hours and admits it would be a big moment in his career to leave Livorno. "The future will be decided with the president today," said the player. "There has been this important offer made that could change my life and make me take a leap in quality. "It will be a difficult choice to make. We shall see."
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Baptista rules out Prem return
Out-of-favour Roma forward also linked with Inter
Last updated: 24th August 2009
SSN
Roma forward Julio Baptista has ruled out a return to the Premier League, according to the Brazilian's agent. Baptista spent the 2006/07 season on loan at Arsenal and has been linked with moves to West Ham United and Manchester City before the close of the transfer window. He is currently out of favour at Roma and was not involved in the club's opening game of the Serie A season on Sunday, as Luciano Spalletti's side lost 3-2 to Genoa. However, the 27-year-old's representative Herminio Menendez has confirmed Baptista is not looking to secure a move to England in order to play regular first-team football. Menendez told asromanews.it: "Julio will not return to England. I can exclude this."
Reports in Italy have also linked Baptista with a switch to Inter Milan as part of a deal which would see David Suazo move to Roma. "I don't know if this will happen, we shall see," Menendez said. "For the time being I rule out a permanent transfer for Julio."
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Lucas Neil down £245,000 after failing to agree West Ham terms
Telegraph.co.uk
By Jason Burt
Published: 11:07AM BST 24 Aug 2009
Lucas Neill doesn't have a football club, so far, this season. So he isn't earning a salary from one. The 31-year-old defender's contract at West Ham United ended on 30 June after the two sides failed to agree terms. West Ham wanted their captain to take a hefty pay cut – partly dictated by the new financial reality at the club; partly because, maybe, at £60,000-a-week he was being over-paid anyway. After all Neill signed up for West Ham two-and-a-half years ago when the club, under Eggert Magnusson, was splashing the cash (remember that £85,000-a-week deal for Freddie Ljungberg?) and turned down Liverpool and Champions League football for a relegation scrap at Upton Park. But Neill, after a patchy period, did well for West Ham. And West Ham did well for the Australian. A wage of £60,000-a-week – that's £240,000 a month so, over roughly 30 months, that's £7.2 million. For a right-back. A good one but not a great one.
Sport on television So West Ham wanted him to be paid, its understood, £30,000-a-week and offered a two-year deal. Neill refused. After all others at the club were earning far more and he was the captain. Also this was probably his last Premier League contract so he stood his ground. West Ham also offered him two years – it's thought Neill proposed 12 months at more like £50,000 to £60,000 a week.
Negotiations continued and, in fairness, West Ham relented, upping their offer. Now it's thought they would pay £35,000-a-week plus appearance and bonus money taking Neill to within a couple of thousand pounds of £50,000-a-week. Again he refused. So his contract ran out and since the end of June he's not been paid. So, if we take the £35,000 basic wage and multiply that over, say, seven weeks then Neill has missed out on £245,000. It's a staggering figure but so are virtually all estimates of footballers' wages. But if Neill and West Ham were, approximately, £10,000 apart then he has, in not receiving any money, already missed out on almost half a year of that difference. In the mean time Neill, a free agent, has spoken to Sunderland and Galatasaray while West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has become puzzled and angry by his now former player's stance.
"I'm sorry about this situation, but I don't understand and don't want to comment," Zola said. "He was in talks with West Ham, then I find out he was in talks with Galatasaray and with Sunderland. Now I don't know what's going on. But he's out, and that's no good for him. For the moment, he's not our priority in that position." In other words, goodbye.
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Milan To Swap Massimo Oddo For West Ham United's Julien Faubert - Report
Goal.com
Milan are ready to open up some dialogue with West Ham United that could see Massimo Oddo swap places with Julien Faubert. According to Sportmediaset.it, West Ham are keen on Oddo, who has been tipped with an exit from the San Siro. The Italian doesn't seem to be a part of Leonardo's plans, and he is behind Gianluca Zambrotta and Luca Antonini in the pecking order for the right-sided slot. An exchange deal with West Ham seems the solution. Voices claim Milan are keen on Faubert and a straight-swap with no co-ownership clauses is the solution. Faubert spent half of last season on loan at Real Madrid where he made little impact before returning to east London. The move depends on Oddo's will to leave though. He wants to fight for his place, and he recently turned down the chance to go back to his former club Lazio. Unless the Italian leaves, Faubert is unlikely to arrive.
Salvatore Landolina, Goal.com
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Chamakh happy to stay put
442 Staff - Today, 12:59
Much sought-after Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh insists he is happy to stay with the French champions this season, after helping les Girondins maintain their 100 percent start to the new season. The Moroccan international, who has netted 15 times for his country, has been linked with a move to the Premier League throughout the close-season.
His 13 goals last term helped secure a first league title in 10 years for the club, but Chamakh initially made no secret of his desire to leave the Stade Chaban Delmas. He previously claimed to have agreed terms with Sunderland, Fulham, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur, while Arsenal withdrew their interest in the striker after refusing to up their first offer of £5 million. West Ham were the latest English club being linked with Chamakh's services, with the Hammers' boss Gianfranco Zola also linked with several high-profile forwards, including Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen, Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli and Bayern Munich talisman Luca Toni, as he bids to bolster his front-line. However, one of the longest running transfer sagas of the summer now seems set to end with the player going nowhere, after Chamakh - who has already netted three times this season - revealed that he rejected the chance to move to Upton Park and is now fully motivated to help Bordeaux seal back-to-back league crowns. "It was magnificent, truly enormous," he told L'Equipe after Bordeaux's 4-0 battering of Nice at the weekend. "When I play a game, I do my maximum. I have good feelings. I am happy and I hope it will last. "I stick to what I said in that the balance is that I will stay with Bordeaux. I rejected West Ham. Frankly, there's no comparison. "With games like that, victories and a solid group there is everything to make me happy. The support of the other players has given me great pleasure. Everyone insists I stay. For now, I tell you, it's gone."
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Calum Davenport: man charged with GBH after footballer attack
A 25-year-old man has been charged with causing grevious bodily harm to Calum Davenport, the West Ham United footballer, Bedfordshire police said, after the player was stabbed.
Telegraph.co.uk
By Ben Leach
Published: 9:21AM BST 24 Aug 2009
Worrell Whitehurst, of Finsley Walk, Derby, was charged after the 26-year-old player was allegedly stabbed in Bedford on Saturday. Bedfordshire Police said Whitehurst was also charged with causing actual bodily harm to Davenport's 49-year-old mother, as well as driving whilst disqualified and possession of a bladed article. He will appear at Bedford Magistrates' Court later on Monday. A 19-year-old man arrested shortly after the incident was released on police bail pending further inquiries, police said. The Premier League footballer's family said that doctors were fighting to save his left leg while they assess the severity of stab wounds to both of his legs. A main artery in Davenport's left leg was reportedly severed, causing him to lose pints of blood, and he was forced to undergo emergency surgery. It has been suggested that the footballer was involved in a family row shortly before the incident and that he had told his sister Cara, 28, who was also at the house at the time of the attack, that he "didn't like the crowd she was mixing with".
Two men were arrested following the attack on the West Ham player and his mother in the early hours of yesterday morning. Davenport, 26, and his 49-year-old mother were both injured in the incident at her home in Bedford and taken to hospital. A spokesman for Bedford Hospital said: "His condition is serious but stable and his mother is in a stable condition."
Davenport cost West Ham £3 million when he joined them from Tottenham during the summer of 2007. He did not figure in the east London club's first game of this season, at Wolves last week and, after struggling to hold down a first-team place, has been linked with a move. The Hammers said the club's thoughts were with the family. A statement added: "The club's medical team are in contact with hospital staff. "The thoughts of everyone at West Ham are with Calum and his family."
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West Ham must up bid for striker
London Evening Standard
24.08.09
West Ham have been told to improve their offer if they want to acquire Livorno striker Alessandro Diamanti. The 26-year-old is under contract with the Tuscan team until June 2013 and the Serie A outfit are not keen to sell a player who scored 16 goals last season, including a vitally important three strikes in the promotion play-offs. Livorno president Aldo Spinelli claims the Hammers have made a bid for his star hitman but says no agreement has been reached. He said: "For the time being, we have not received any satisfying offers. There is nothing more to add. "But Diamanti must remain calm, he is under contract and he must only think of playing. "The rest, we will consider in the next coming days."
A move to Upton Park would see Diamanti play under Italian coach Gianfranco Zola. Diamanti, who played in Livorno's goalless draw against Cagliari yesterday, is expecting his fate to become clearer soon. "The future will be decided with the president today," he said. "There has been this important offer made that could change my life and make me take a leap in quality. "It will be a difficult choice to make. We shall see."
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Hammers secure highly-rated striker
Sport.co.uk
Author: Andrew Allen
Posted on:24 August 2009 - 10:19
West Ham United appear to have secured a deal for Macedonian hitman Goran Pandev after Lazio reportedly accepted an initial €5m offer from the Hammers. Italian coach Gianfranco Zola is known to have been on the lookout for recruits for his forward line and, having been linked with Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli and former Chelsea star Eider Gudjohnsen, appeared in poll position to steal Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh from under the noses of rivals Arsenal, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers. Respected website calciomercato.it, now claims that the East End club have given up on trying to lure the Moroccan international and have instead pounced for Pandev after the player's mooted move to Zenit St Petersburg broke down.
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West Ham United Manager Gianfranco Zola Dismisses Dean Ashton Retirement Claims
The Italian is hopeful his injury-prone striker will feature again...
24 Aug 2009 09:28:22
West Ham United manager Gianfranco Zola is hoping to have Dean Ashton fit and available for selection again, despite reports claiming the striker could be forced into retirement. The former Norwich City forward has suffered a number of long-term absences during his career, the latest of which is due to a chronic ankle problem. A story in The Mirror on Sunday claimed Ashton is set to retire following persistent problems, but Zola is optimistic the frontman will play again. "I am hoping I can have him in my team," the Italian said, according to The Evening Standard. "Until they tell me something different, I am hopeful."
The Hammers continue to struggle for attacking options in the absence of Ashton, with Carlton Cole their only recognised senior striker. Cole scored as West Ham took the lead against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, before falling to a 2-1 defeat at Upton Park. Zola has been linked consistently with Barcelona's Eider Gudjohnsen this summer, with The Sun today claiming a season-long loan move could be completed this week.
Jamie Dunn, Goal.com
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West Ham must improve Diamanti offer
Independent.co.uk
PA
Monday, 24 August 2009
West Ham have been told to improve their offer if they want to acquire Livorno striker Alessandro Diamanti. The 26-year-old is under contract with the Tuscan team until June 2013 and the Serie A outfit are not keen to sell a player who scored 16 goals last season, including a vitally important three strikes in the promotion play-offs. Livorno president Aldo Spinelli claims the Hammers have made a bid for his star hitman but says no agreement has been reached. He said: "For the time being, we have not received any satisfying offers. There is nothing more to add. "But Diamanti must remain calm, he is under contract and he must only think of playing. "The rest, we will consider in the next coming days."
A move to Upton Park would see Diamanti play under Italian coach Gianfranco Zola. Diamanti, who played in Livorno's goalless draw against Cagliari yesterday, is expecting his fate to become clearer soon. "The future will be decided with the president today," he said. "There has been this important offer made that could change my life and make me take a leap in quality. "It will be a difficult choice to make. We shall see."
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Hammers ready to do business with AC Milan
Sport.co.uk
Author: Andrew Allen
Posted on:24 August 2009 - 13:07
AC Milan and West Ham United could open negotiations in the coming days with Italian website Sportmediaset.it claiming that the rossoneri want to take defender Julien Faubert to the San Siro in exchange for veteran Italian international Massimo Oddo.
Frenchman Faubert, 26, spent the second half of last season on loan with Real Madrid, but failed to earn himself a permanent deal after a series of poor cameo performances from the Bernabeu bench. Back in the East End, the former Bordeaux man has been utilised by Gianfranco Zola at the start of the new season, although the opportunity to instil further Italian flavour and experience to his squad, in the shape of Oddo, may well be welcomed.
Oddo, who has been consistently linked with a move away from Milan throughout the summer, doesn't seem to be a part of Leonardo's plans, and is currently behind Gianluca Zambrotta and Luca Antonini in the pecking order for the right-sided slot. Having spent last season on loan with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, the 33-year-old is not thought to be put off by further foreign adventures so late in his career.
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