By Louis Nixon

Nuno’s side has been linked to a handful of central defenders across the past week, but in search of Premier League leadership, the Hammers have landed on Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings. 

Tyrone Mings has been an established Premier League centerback for far too long and certainly was an obvious name to come up in our search for defenders that have numerous years of playing at the top level, leadership skills and more importantly, can help the side’s broken defensive be reorganised. 

Whilst another centre-back would likely just be another addition to the squad, in reality, if someone is signed, they’ll likely be there to replace Max Kilman, who has by far been the most disappointing defender out of the options that we currently have. Tyrone Mings would fit straight in. 

There’s no need to ring up stats about Tyrone Mings, but there are certainly three significant factors he has towards his game which would be an excellent addition to this Hammers side: his leadership, aerial ability and finally the fact that he’s left-footed. The leadership factor is self-explanatory, having a voice such as his in the dressing room would be ideal, and he’d be a figure that would pick up everyone’s heads whilst they’re down. 

Secondly, his aerial ability, standing at 6’5, it’d be pretty handy to have him defending and attacking a set piece, wouldn’t it? Given that we’ve immensely struggled this season with defending set pieces, it would be nice to have someone good in the air. This is a West Ham side that has really missed it. 

Finally, the fact that he’s left-footed could work in a Nuno type stystem. The Hammers often find themselves passing from the back, and to have someone being able to naturally pass towards the left-hand side without a worry, it could certainly just take away a potential risk factor that we are forced to suffer from every game. 

However, despite his overall ability, truth be told it’ll be a difficult signing to get over the line, from agreeing a fee to convincing the player to leave a side he’s nurtured to the Champions League spots, it certainly won’t be easy, but perhaps a bit of persuasion from Callum Wilson might help, the pair played together for numerous years whilst at Bournemouth.

I certainly wouldn’t mind a late reunion towards the end of their careers!