Daily WHUFC News - 5th September 2016

From the Boardroom - David Gold
WHUFC.com

It has been a long summer but finally the transfer window has closed and we are pleased with the players we have brought into the squad over the last few months.

We managed to secure an excellent piece of business on deadline day with the signing of World Cup winner Alvaro Arbeloa.

He provides strong competition for the right back position and gives Slaven the option to play Michail Antonio in a more attacking position where he is such a threat to the opposition.

Alvaro brings with him a wealth of experience and I am sure someone like Sam Byram will relish the chance to learn from one of the best right backs in recent years.

I can remember when we were in charge of Birmingham doing a similar kind of deal when we signed Steven Carr.

Steven turned out to be a fantastic signing and was my player of the season. There is absolutely no reason why Alvaro cannot do the same.

I want to pay tribute once again to David Sullivan, Slaven, Tony Henry and Andrew Pincher for making this deal go through and all the other great signings they have made over the summer.

Apart from the sale of James Tomkins who wanted first-team football and we fully understood his reason for wanting to join Crystal Palace, we have managed to keep hold of all our senior players which is a major bonus for everyone at the Club.

There was obviously a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Dimitri Payet and a number of reports said that he could leave, but that never happened and we wanted him to stay.

The player himself is very happy at West Ham United and we didn't entertain any approaches.

After what he did at the European Championship Finals during the summer, I understand why fans would be apprehensive and worried about his future, but myself and David Sullivan always stated that he would be going nowhere.

When we took over the Club back in 2010, we both promised to try and stop our best players being sold, especially to the other London clubs and we have managed to stop that in recent years.

We have said all along that we are an ambitious club and both myself and David Sullivan put our savings into making sure West Ham United can become one of the biggest Clubs in London and we want to close the gap.

The one area we can become number one is in the capacity of the stadium and I am confident the fans can help us get up to 66,000.

They can do this by refraining from standing throughout the game and not blocking other people's views.

I was so happy to see Michail Antonio earn a call-up to the England squad and I have always been one of his biggest fans.

He is exciting to watch and there is such a great expectation from the crowd everytime he gets the ball.

I know Sam Allardyce well and he likes winners and fighters and Michail fits all the requirements.

I am very excited for him and I know everyone at the football club is fully behind him and wishes him the best of luck ahead of the World Cup Qualifier against Slovakia on Sunday.

At last we have someone back in the England squad and I hope there will be many more to follow this season.

We are all looking forward to the next Premier League game against Watford and hopefully the long-awaited returns of Payet and Lanzini.

We had a great month in September last season and hopefully we can do the same again.

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Simply Slaven - Part One
WHUFC.com

In the first part of our exclusive interview with Slaven Bilic, the Hammers manager looks back at a successful transfer window and explains why he brought World Cup winner Alvaro Arbeloa into the squad on deadline day.

Arbeloa has a wealth of experience having won the Champions League with Real Madrid and will provide strong competition with Sam Byram for the right back position.

Bilic said: "His CV is top of course. He was at Liverpool so he knows the Premier League. He had 10 years at Real Madrid and won everything. We were looking to strengthen that position, at least short-term and he was available and simply the perfect option what we needed.

"We watched a lot of Real Madrid games like everybody else and he's a great professional, a player of great experience and I'm sure he's going to help us a lot. Make no mistake, he's coming here as a player, not as a mentor, not as a coach. "

After bringing in 13 players over the summer, Bilic was thrilled to have secured the signing of Simone Zaza from Juventus and reveals what what the Italy international could bring to the Premier League this season.

He added: "He's still young, hungry, great left foot, goalscorer, bit of that drive and positive wildness on the pitch that is very important for the team, the crowd."

The Hammers manager explains why he made the decision to allow Enner Valencia to join Everton and says it could favour the player and the Club in the long-term.

Bilic was also thrilled to see Michail Antonio earn his first call-up to the England squad this week and says it is just rewards for a player who has a similar story to Jamie Vardy and has worked his way from non-league into the Premier League.


Don't miss Part Two on Sunday when Bilic reveals his delight at keeping Dimitri Payet at the Hammers and gives his feelings on the 'crazy money' that is being spent in the top flight.

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Simply Slaven - Part Two
WHUFC.com

Slaven Bilic has been a busy manager in recent months bringing in 13 new players but maybe his biggest move of the summer was keeping Dimitri Payet at West Ham United.

Payet was one of the star performers at the European Championship Finals during the summer and showed once again why he is rated one of the best players in Europe.

The France international became a cult hero with the Hammers fans in just his first season in the Premier League and scored a number of goals, including some memorable free-kicks.

In Part Two of our exclusive interview with the Hammers manager, Bilic says he is thrilled that Payet has stayed at the Club and hopes he can grow even stronger this season.

Bilic said: "It is key for us if he can produce his best form again. He has the qualities that the best players have and can help change a game. They are influencing their team-mates and opponents.

"He makes the team play better and everyone around him is benefitting. The team recognised that last season."

With over £1billion being spent on new players during the summer, Bilic shares his views on the big money being invested by all the Premier League clubs.

He added: "It's a bit too crazy especially if you watch television and you go like how many minutes to go, how many seconds to go, if we break one billion and all that. It's all crazy but you can't stop it."

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Cracking that glass ceiling
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 4th September 2016
By: Paul Walker

West Ham's owners are entitled to be happy with their biggest transfer window bonanza, more players, more money spent and all the hype they can muster - even if only a handful were through the door before the Europa League bolted.

This has been the craziest, greediest, window that our owner/director of football David Sullivan has ever worked in, but we all know that he just loves the buzz of it all and the limelight. The little fella just lives for these few months of cut and thrust, gambling, ducking, diving, dealing. A transfer window junkie.

We have 13 new players--if you include Manuel Lanzini's loan option converted to a permanent deal for around £10.2m.

But deep down, I wonder if Sullivan, Gold and Lady K have a nagging feeling that they still haven't cracked that glass ceiling. The one that gets them access to the world's greatest talents. I know it gnaws away at me.

However hard they have tried, however much money they have thrown at the problem, you sense that they have not really changed the perception of our club in the European market place. I wonder just how many of our new arrivals were their first choice targets.

Because time and again we have heard that players won't come because we are not in the Champions League. And the real problem is that they cannot be convinced that we will achieve that goal any time soon, despite all the big talk and naked ambition to reach the next stage of our development.

We left the Boleyn to aspire to be a true, great club. But the barriers stopping us, in terms of credibility, status and financial, are immense.

Players, the "show me the money" kind, look at our position, and then at the fierce competition in the Premier League for just four spots in the Champions League, and they don't believe we can crack it.

The introduction of FFP has created a situation that whatever money your owners have personally, they are not allowed to throw bundles of cash at players without any restrictions.

It's all changed since Manchester City were the most recent new face at the top table. When they acquired new owners, vast wealth and a new stadium, they had to throw obscene amounts of cash at players to encourage them to turn their backs on the Champions League and drop down in status.

Money was the only reasons Yaya Toure left Barcelona for City. But the real deal clincher there was that Toure could look at the vast wealth coming City's way from Abu Dhabi and be prepared to accept the promise that the club would be in the Champions League very, very soon.

City knew FFP was arriving, and they had to make the jump in class quickly or not at all. Now when players look at us, they see Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all spending well over £100m each this summer--with three of the world's top managers newly on the job--to make sure the likes of Leicester and, to a lesser extend our good selves--do not make monkeys out of them again.

Arsenal and Liverpool are not far behind in that approach. And Spurs. Last season's miracle of Leicester will not happen again, and we will--I fear-- do amazingly well to repeat our seventh spot from last term. The big boys have been stung once, and they didn't like it.

We have already seen the sign of things to come. Man Utd are a force again, City were amazing for 45 minutes against us last weekend, while Chelsea have no intention of being out of the Champions League for more than one season.

Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool have all spent vastly more than us. And potential big time targets of ours can see this all for themselves. They don't believe we can match these clubs.

These days players are so rich, their only currency is status and medals. That status means staying at the very top, and that's inside the Champions League bubble. And they cannot be convinced that by dropping down a level to us, they will only be out of the top bracket for a season.

Now we as fans, no doubt, feel differently. We did it last season, and but for a couple of horrible Diafra Sakho misses in that last game at Stoke, we would have avoided the lesser qualifying stages of the Europa League. And had a few referees not been blinded by the light that comes from the big clubs, we may well have sneaked fourth spot.

Slav put it clearly when he said, on arrival back from the US/Austria/Europa League grand tour, that players will not drop out of the Champions League to come to us unless you pay big, big money. Certainly if they are regulars in their current club sides.

Ad what really bothers me is that I cannot see that situation changing, unless, that is, Bilic and the boys produce miracles to grab fourth spot…a place that from now on gets English clubs straight into the Champions League group stages.

Our glorious leaders tried hard, oh how they tried, to get players to take a drop in status. It, frankly, took all their efforts to persuade Simone Zaza to move to the London Stadium from Juventus. But then, he had not been a regular in the Turin club's first team, and looking at this week's internationals, he was not in the Italy squad either. He has something to prove, and we can give him the platform - and double his wages.

I feel we have paid way over the odds for Andre Ayew, while Havard Nordtveit looks worryingly one-paced to me. We have hardly seen Sofiane Feghouli, although he scored a decent goal on his debut against Domzale. Then he picks up an injury against Juventus, seemingly trained the following week and then it is discovered to be a hamstring problem. I do hope that version of events that has been doing the rounds, is not the case. How do you train with a hamstring problem?

Anyway, Gokhan Tore, Slav's mate, has had a decent game against Bournemouth, producing a fine cross for Michail Antonio to score the winner. Apart from that he has been a nightmare.

Youngsters like the impressive Ashley Fletcher, Jonathan Calleri, Toni Martinez and Domingos Quina all look like players for the future. Mind you, Martinez, only 19 I believe, seems to have that scoring knack and if he keeps finding the net he will force his was into the side.

Arthur Masuaku had a dodgy first half hour at Chelsea, but has done pretty well ever since, although how he stayed on the pitch at the Etihad escapes me. No-one has seen Edimilson Fernandes yet, so it's wait and see there.

And then, of course, we have acquired probably the most decorated player ever to wear our shirt in 33 year-old Alvaro Arbeloa. I had the good fortune to see him a lot while he was at Liverpool, and he is a class act. No frills, knows the job, top quality defender.

Last season he was playing in the Champions League at Real Madrid, and was a legend there. I just hope he has still got it in him. But he's a World Cup winner, Champions League winner and European Championship winner. Plus La Liga. Don't anyone ask him to show them his medals, it could take all day.

He arrived on the last day of the window, and it is suggested he paid his own air fare and his agent took a lesser cut. Read that last bit again everyone, you won't see that again any time soon.

But even then it seems we tried for Leicester's Danny Simpson first. This is the same Danny Simpson with a recent conviction for trying to "throttle" his girl friend, turning up for his community service in a Lamborghini and then wonders why someone takes his picture! You cannot make it up.

He seems to be another graduate from the Ravel Morrison/Manchester United school for not knowing how to treat women properly!

Maybe Sam Byram has dodged a bullet there. Slav seemingly wanted someone to mentor him as he learns how to play in the Premier League without getting booked. I feel young Sam will learn more from Arbeloa than another Mancunian toe-rag.

The Spaniard is a consummate professional, nothing flash but has been one of the best right backs in Europe over the past decade. OK, so I have given him the big build-up, I just pray he has still got it!

So, including loan fees and not the £17m it will cost to turn Zaza's loan into a permanent deal, we have spent around £53m, and offset that with £10m from the James Tomkins deal, and £1.5m loan fee for Enner Valencia's move to Everton. Whether we ever seen the £14.5m it will cost Everton to make that a permanent deal remains to be seen.

I am pleased that Pedro Obiang is still here, he did 't get much of a chance last term but is a solid cover right through midfield. All in all, this window is as good, realistically, as the Davids could expect.

They shot for the moon last summer and got Dimi Payet, but it took a while for Lanzini and Angelo Ogbonna to find their feet and it will be the same with this summer's new recruits.

I reckon around 18 players have left, if you include the Academy culling, and what we have acquired since looks an overall improvement.

But that glass ceiling is still there. Slav and the boys have to finish fourth or above to give Sullivan the chance next summer to offer players Champions League football and know he can deliver. So, for now, it seems time for our owner to take a break, have a lie down (not in a hospital bed again) and pray things work out the way he, and all of us, hope.

One final point. There has been a lot of moaning and groaning about the new stadium and the teething troubles. All that will end if the side start winning, and winning well. Over to you, Slav.

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to, KUMB.com.

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Window of opportunity
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 4th September 2016
By: Terry Land

At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday, 31 August many West Ham fans might have breathed a sigh of relief with the close of the transfer window. Despite nagging rumours to the contrary Dimitri Payet stayed at the club, 10 new first-teamers had signed and only a couple of players departed. However, doubts remain – following successful summer business the previous two seasons this window felt less than spectacular with questions being raised regarding the overall strength of the squad.

Before going any further three things need to be acknowledged in mitigation; firstly the inflation in transfer fees brought about by the most recent TV deals – when a striker as limited as Christian Benteke is fetching a £32million transfer fee it's not easy find value in the market. Likewise the threat of Britain leaving the EU has resulted in sterling (no, not Raheem) taking a bit of a buffeting on the international markets, effectively making foreign transfers around 10 per cent more expensive. And finally the club could not have anticipated the second successive early elimination from the Europa League at the hands of Romanian side Astra Giurgiu – with a potentially long campaign in the offing it was easy to see how volume in player trading may have taken precedence over quality.

Once manager Slaven Bilic's tactics are examined it becomes even more difficult to detect a unity or coherence around summer purchases and it's becoming increasingly difficult to know what sort of team the Croat's West Ham are. Lacking resilience at the back the squad lacks the pace in midfield and quality at full-back to play a counter-attacking style. A quick glance at match statistics would dispel any thoughts of them being a possession side either. In conclusion, the Hammers seem little more than a Payet side (with a sideways nod to the abilities of Manuel Lanzini). Take those two out of the team, as has been the case so far this season, and the first XI looks decidedly average.

Other sides have bought well, meaning it will be difficult to better last year's seventh place especially if the results against the better sides (as they already appear to be) dry up. A feature of Bilic's side is how seldom they dominate inferior opponents and just two wins against the bottom three last season points to some potential banana skins this term.

The area of least concern is between the sticks. Despite the occasional histrionics and a weakness off his line Adrian has proved himself a good quality goalkeeper and has deservedly been handed a call-up into the Spanish squad. Darren Randolph is a competent if not brilliant deputy and currently an Ireland regular. Likewise, at left-back Arthur Makuasu appears to offer the injured Aaron Cresswell real competition and the team greater defensive solidity in an area hitherto lacking both.

At centre-back James Tomkins has left his boyhood club for a very reasonable £10m – especially bearing in mind he was a fourth choice behind Angelo Ogbonna, Winston Reid and James Collins. However, Reid hasn't yet returned to his pre-injury form of last season and is looking hurried and out of touch. The signing on a free from Mönchengladbach of Håvard Nordtveit as a utility defender/holding midfielder is an expression of the foolhardiness of aiming for a bigger squad at the expense of quality. Although technically good, two-footed and decent in the air the Norwegian international lacks the pace for a midfield spot and the defending ability to challenge the regular centre-halves. Unkind comparisons with former Hammer Radoslav Kováč won't be long coming.

The situation up front has been some way less than ideal. Enner Valencia lost form and confidence and has been shipped off to Everton on a season's loan. Although the Ecuadorian never for a moment stopped giving his all, his pace and fierce shot never made up for a lack of footballing nous. Diafra Sakho has embarked on a huge strop and can be considered persona non grata. A real shame as his form when first at the club alongside Valencia and supported by Stewart Downing was nothing short of sensational. One way or another Bilic has rid the club of all three – on the face of it an odd judgement.

Andy Carroll is a limited player despite an underrated left foot. But his lack of link-up play doesn't suit Bilic at all. And yet another in a seemingly endless run of injuries could be a positive as it pushed the club into the market. Nothing sums up the transfer window better than Chairman David Sullivan's earlier pledge to buy a £30m striker before finding nobody wanted to play for The Irons and finally paying Swansea £20m for a right winger-cum-forward only for André Ayew to rupture a thigh muscle half an hour into his debut. A reciprocal axiom to the one about fortune favouring the brave?

Jonathan "Julian" Calleri seems a punt for the future and little can be read into his form. Yet the signing of Simone Zaza from Juventus on a loan-to-buy move for £28m if not a full-scale panic buy certainly displayed signs of the jitters. Despite being a full Italian international Zaza only scores at a rate of one in three, lacks blinding pace, isn't dominant in the air but works hard. Sound familiar? Yes, if it wasn't for the £20m plus disparity in transfer fee it's difficult to distinguish him from Sakho.

Perhaps the brightest signings are Swiss midfielder Edimilson Fernandes from Sion and French-born Algerian international Sofiane Feghouli from Valencia. Although a relative unknown Fernandes is expected to go straight into the side to supplement the attacking strength of Payet and Lanzini. Feghouli is lightning quick, has a good touch and as proved against FK Domžale an eye for goal from wide.

Which brings us to the most vexing area of the pitch, the right side. Following injuries to on-loan Carl Jenkinson and young signing Sam Byram last season the right-back position was filled by Michail Antonio, a natural winger. Even the least educated football brain could see the former Forest player was positionally all over the place in defence. All except Bilic who insisted he could convert the player and concentrated on filling the squad with right wingers. Some sympathy should be extended to the manager – it is one of the less appealing traits of the Premier League players are bought and sold as seen, with little attempt at development.

Meanwhile Feghouli was followed by both Ayew and perplexingly the woeful Gökhan Töre – the squad began to resemble a Theresa May cabinet so full was it of right-wingers. The Turk wasn't bought but arrived on loan due to Bilic being the only person in the club to rate his former player. Three league games into the season and the penny dropped for Bilic as a series of poor defensive performances from Antonio culminated in the acquisition of Alvaro Arbeloa from Real Madrid. So there we are, one inexperienced and one over-the-hill right back, four right-wingers.

This all taps into the abrasive personality of Bilic. Ever the idealist he doesn't appear able to tolerate deficiencies in his players even if they are of his own creation. Antonio and Ogbonna have been ruthlessly and humiliatingly withdrawn during games (the latter before half-time on his full debut) while Morgan Amalfitano and Sakho have suffered from off-field fallings-out. Each may be acceptable but taken together they appear less the acts of a manager and more of a dictator.

Let's hope our manager turns out more Josip Tito than Slobodan Milošević.

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to, KUMB.com.

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West Ham team news: David Gold hopeful over Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini returns
TOM DUTTON 11 hours ago0 comments
Evening Standard

West Ham co-chairman David Gold is hopeful both Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet will return to the starting XI for Saturday's Premier League match with Watford. Both are recovering from injuries but had been expected to return to the team for last weekend's league match against Manchester City.
Payet's case was made all the more curious because he had been named in the France squad ahead of West Ham's trip to the Etihad Stadium and subsequently came off the bench in Thursday's friendly against France. Lanzini, meanwhile, was introduced against City following his recovery from a knee injury sustained ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics with the Argentina squad. But Gold expects both to be knocking on the door when West Ham host Watford at London Stadium after the international break. "We are all looking forward to the next Premier League game against Watford and hopefully the long-awaited returns of Payet and Lanzini," wrote David Gold in a message to supporters on the club's official website. The West Ham chief also confirmed the club knocked back all interest in Payet during the transfer window. Jack Sullivan, son of the club's co-owner David, revealed the Hammers had quoted £100million to one interested party and it halted negotiations. And Gold added: "There was obviously a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Dimitri Payet and a number of reports said that he could leave, but that never happened and we wanted him to stay. "The player himself is very happy at West Ham United and we didn't entertain any approaches."

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Cheikhou Kouyate: I want Champions League football for West Ham and 'unbelievable' Slaven Bilic
STANDARD SPORT 48 minutes ago0 comments
Evening Standard

Cheikhou Kouyate wants to help West Ham achieve their ambition of playing in the Champions League after making the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium this season. The Hammers enjoyed an impressive 2015/16 season, with Slaven Bilic's side pushing for Champions League qualification until a late loss of form saw the club finish seventh in the Premier League. Expectations are high this term following relocation to the London Stadium in Stratford, and Kouyate - who played in the Champions League with Anderlecht before joining the Hammers in 2014 - told Goal that he is ready to play in Europe's elite club competition once again. "Playing football is my dream and I've come to West Ham to help the team and to help them qualify for the Champions League," said Kouyate. "In my opinion I can play in the Champions League because I've done it before with Anderlecht and it was a very nice experience. I want to have this experience with West Ham." Kouyate opened the Hammers' official London Stadium account with two goals against NK Domzale in the Europa League qualifying rounds, but Bilic's side failed to reach the group stages as they were shocked by Astra Giurgiu at home. Despite Europa disappointment for the Hammers, Kouyate says he will treasure his goals against NK Domzale, adding: "I'm very happy to score the two goals because I will never forget this moment. "If I have kids I will tell them your father scored the first goals at this stadium."

Kouyate also had kind words for Bilic, saying: "He helps me everyday and everyday I become better and better and in my experience the manager is unbelievable.
"Every time I have something to say he listens to me, he always helps me. In the game he will talk to me clearly and tell me 'this is good' or 'this is bad.' I like him a lot because he is close to every player."

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