Daily WHUFC News - 14th August 2013

Stewart Downing: West Ham sign Liverpool's England winger
By Mandeep Sanghera
BBC Sport

West Ham United have signed England winger Stewart Downing from Liverpool
for a fee of about £5m. The 29-year-old has agreed a four-year contract with
Sam Allardyce's side and follows striker Andy Carroll in swapping Anfield
for Upton Park.

West Ham's summer signings
Andy Carroll (£15m, Liverpool)
Stewart Downing (£5m, Liverpool)
Razvan Rat (Free, Shakhtar)
Adrian (Free, Real Betis)
Danny Whitehead (undisclosed, Stockport)

Downing was signed by Liverpool in a £20m deal from Aston Villa in 2011.
"I'm very excited. It's a great opportunity for me being here, it's a great
club and I'm really excited to get going," said Downing. "I've played a
decent few games for Liverpool in pre-season, so there will be no problems
on that front." Brendan Rodgers, who replaced Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool
boss, criticised Downing shortly after taking over at Anfield, and picked
him at left-back as well as on the wing.

Stewart Downing factfile
Age: 29
England caps: 34
England goals: 0
Teams: Middlesbrough, Sunderland (loan), Aston Villa, Liverpool, West Ham

Downing, who has 34 international caps and was part of England's Euro 2012
squad, scored five times in 45 appearances for the Reds in the 2012-13
campaign and registered seven goals in 91 matches for the club overall. He
revealed last December he had been told he could leave Anfield. Downing's
arrival is West Ham's fifth summer signing, including the permanent transfer
of Downing's former team-mate Carroll. Carroll joined Liverpool for £35m in
January 2011 but moved to West Ham in a £15m deal earlier this summer
following a season on loan with the Hammers.

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West Ham complete signing of Stewart Downing from Liverpool
Last Updated: August 13, 2013 1:37pm
SSN

West Ham have completed the signing of winger Stewart Downing from
Liverpool. The 29-year-old has joined Sam Allardyce's side on a four-year
contract for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of £5m. Downing,
who has won 34 caps for England, follows striker Andy Carroll in making the
summer switch from Anfield to Upton Park and is looking forward a new
chapter in his career. "I'm very excited. It's a great opportunity for me
being here, it's a great club and I'm really excited to get going," Downing
told the club's website. "I'm ready and I'm fit for the first game against
Cardiff City. I've played a decent few games for Liverpool in pre-season, so
there will be no problems on that front. "It's all happened quickly, but I'm
really excited and hoping to play a part on Saturday."

Downing began his career with Middlesbrough, making his debut as a
17-year-old in 2002. He joined Aston Villa following Boro's relegation from
the Premier League in 2009 and was voted their Player of the Season for
2010-2011. A £20m move to Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool followed in July 2011
with Downing picking up a Carling Cup winners' medal before falling out of
favour under current Reds boss Brendan Rodgers. Downing fought his way back
into first-team contention in the second half of last season but has now
opted to take up a fresh challenge with West Ham.

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Tottenham, Fulham and West Ham linked with Troy Deeney
By Pete O'Rourke - Follow me: @skysportspeteo. Last Updated:
August 13, 2013 2:14pm
SSN

Sky Sports understands Premier League trio Tottenham, Fulham and West Ham
are tracking Watford striker Troy Deeney. Deeney has started the new season
in red-hot form and his goalscoring exploits have alerted several Premier
League clubs. Tottenham are thought to be actively monitoring his progress
at Vicarage Road with Andre Villas-Boas in the market for striking
reinforcements, especially if Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor leave
White Hart Lane.
Fulham boss Martin Jol and his West Ham counterpart Sam Allardyce have both
admitted they are looking to bring in a new striker before the close of the
transfer window and Deeney is thought to figure highly on their wanted list.
Representatives from Fulham and West Ham are both thought to have watched
Deeney in action last weekend when he scored a superb hat-trick in the 6-1
win over Bournemouth. The 25-year-old is now widely regarded as the best
striker outside the Premier League having scored 20 goals last season.
Watford are desperate to keep hold of their prize asset as they look to
mount a bid for promotion to the Premier League, but manager Gianfrano Zola
admitted after the win over Bournemouth he was wary of clubs making moves to
sign Deeney. Zola, who is a big fan of Deeney and has previously admitted
the player could make the step-up to the Premier League, said at the
weekend: "The transfer window is still open - and that could be a problem."

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Liverpool Become a West Ham Feeder Club
By Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die

Yes, I know I am late, but it's been a busy day. So Stewart Downing is pour
new number 23. It's been amusing to see all the Liverpool fans wish him good
riddance. Let's hope he has the season of his life and makes them eat their
words. The question now is who will the new striker be? The Juventus front
man who SJ Chandos wrote about below, or could it be Jermain Defoe? There
are still rumours that Maiga is going back to France, which surely means
we'd need two new strikers. Both of those would do me fine!

Sadly Scott Parker seems to be going to QPR. An odd move, if you ask me.

PS The new version of this website will launch late on Friday. I hope. No,
really. It's very different in design and functionality. God, I hope you all
like it. A lot of effort has gone into it. You will indeed be able to sign
in on a normal account OR via your Twitter or facebook accounts. Commenting
will be in realtime, a bit like Instant Messaging, so on match days you can
have proper conversations. We're roadtesting the comments system at the
moment and I am going to be emailing a few of you tonight to help me test it
out.

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Demba Ba On Hammers Radar, But Who Would Make Way?
By Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die

Well, according to the Daily Mirror a deal for Demba Ba may be back on the
cards. According to them, it all depends on West Ham selling a couple of
players to get the off the wage bill. And if a move for Ba fails, then it's
Hugo Almeida. Here's their story...

West Ham are set to make a renewed move to bring Demba Ba 'home' - but need
to offload players in order to afford the Chelsea striker... They are now
set to wield the axe to trim their bloated wage bill. We exclusively
revealed West Ham's original bid to take Ba back to Upton Park, where he
played in their 2010-11 relegation season, in June. They switched their
attentions to the Senegal international after failing with an attempt to
take his Chelsea team-mate Romelu Lukaku on loan. Ba scored seven goals in
12 games for West Ham, his first club in English football, before moving on
to Newcastle and then, last January, to the Blues. New Chelsea boss Jose
Mourinho, however, is keen to buy Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. And
Ba already has Fernando Torres and Lukaku ahead of him, regardless of what
happens with Rooney. Should West Ham miss out on the 28-year-old, they could
turn to Besiktas striker Hugo Almeida. The Portuguese hitman, 29, has been
transfer-listed by the Turkish club after refusing to take a pay-cut.
Director of football Onder Ozen said recently: "We will consider offers for
Almeida, especially if we can't reach an agreement regarding his wages."

A forward line of Carroll, Ba, Jarvis and Downing. Delicious.

But who would the players be who might leave? I'd say Matt Taylor and
Ricardo Vaz Te would be top of the list, with Modobo Maiga and Alou Diarra
following close behind.

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West Ham plan new transfer move for Chelsea's Demba Ba once they trim
wage-bill
13 Aug 2013 22:30
The Mirror

West Ham are set to make a renewed move to bring Demba Ba 'home' - but need
to offload players in order to afford the Chelsea striker. The Hammers have
signed Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll from Liverpool, defender Razvan Rat
of Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Betis keeper Adrian this summer. They are now
set to wield the axe to trim their bloated wage bill. We exclusively
revealed West Ham's original bid to take Ba back to Upton Park, where he
played in their 2010-11 relegation season, in June. They switched their
attentions to the Senegal international after failing with an attempt to
take his Chelsea team-mate Romelu Lukaku on loan. Ba scored seven goals in
12 games for West Ham, his first club in English football, before moving on
to Newcastle and then, last January, to the Blues. New Chelsea boss Jose
Mourinho, however, is keen to buy Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. And
Ba already has Fernando Torres and Lukaku ahead of him, regardless of what
happens with Rooney. Should West Ham miss out on the 28-year-old, they could
turn to Besiktas striker Hugo Almeida. The Portuguese hitman, 29, has been
transfer-listed by the Turkish club after refusing to take a pay-cut.
Director of football Onder Ozen said recently: "We will consider offers for
Almeida, especially if we can't reach an agreement regarding his wages."


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