This has been quite a quiet day for transfer rumours as far as West Ham are concerned. This original feature however will continue to run each day and I will ask for rumours to be sent for me to look at.
Rumour 1: Lacazette is joining, is not joining, wants Champions League and wants to move to West Ham etc. (There have been various rumours). I don’t think the situation has changed at all since yesterday. The bottom line is the player may want Champions League football but if a club in the Champions League doesn’t bid for him he doesn’t have that option unless he stays at his current club. At this moment I do not think there are any other clubs in the running for that fee as PSG seem to have cooled their interest. DS wants his man but doesn’t want to have the price inflated and dictated to him. I believe another offer is due to be submitted on Monday.
Rumour 2: Oxford could move on loan to Newcastle next season: There is a lot of uncertainty around Reece’s future at the moment but the club have considered loaning him out next season. We tried to loan him to Charlton this year to get him some vital experience yet the Charlton manager at the time claimed he had not heard of him (a ridiculous comment from a manager who was sacked shortly afterwards). Bilic and the club do not particularly rate the development squad league for player development and they believe that loaning the player is much better for his growth. This was seen by the very successful loans of Burke, Cullen and Samuelsen. Newcastle would be a great move for Reece and I can imagine this story does have legs. The question would be whether his agent thinks it is the right move. I could see Reece leaving us on loan this year.
Rumour 3: Interest in Zaza of Juventus: This is a player that we were very keen to sign in the last summer transfer window and one we launched a few bids for. We have continued to monitor him, and although at the moment Lacazette is the clear number one target who that second striker will be is unclear. At this point I would be surprised if it is Zaza.
Rumour 4: When will the Boleyn Ground stop being used. The club will be moving on from the ground around about the 18th July. I do not know the exact date that it will be knocked down but the middle of July is the official time that all club personnel switch over to the Olympic Stadium.
I have quite an interesting exclusive about another club and this doesn’t involve West Ham. I have been told by two reliable sources that Ryan Giggs has been offered the manager’s job at Nottingham Forest. He is currently weighing up the option but he is cautious about the move due to the current chairman being difficult to work for. He is also determined to choose the right club after Gary Neville’s terrible spell at Valencia. Since this morning the odds on Giggs being the new Forest manager have dropped from 28-1 to 12-1.
Thanks buddy, love the updates. You da man!
Bilic needs to be very careful how he manages young Oxford. If we want to keep him we need to show him that he really does figure in the plan for 16/17. He has had his head turned I suspect. Can’t believe we consistently played the likes of Moses and Emineke towards the end last season when young talent was kept on the touch line. Oxford would have made a better forward than either of them.
I would loan him out but would also sell Tomkins to a) prove to him we are willing to sell a top defender to open space for him to get more appearances and b) it will help fund the lacazette move….. Oxford is obviously the best young centre back in the country and we will be in a stronger position to keep hold of him than we was when we couldn’t keep Ferdinand. If he wants to fight for his place then play him in both domestic cups and the Europa league…..