Lucas Paquetá’s move to Flamengo seems to be close to completion, but what should West Ham do with the £35/40m they will receive?

Firstly, I think we need to buy a central defender. Ideally that would be Charlie Cresswell, but with Toulouse looking for €30m I can’t see that happening.

Isak Hein is a new rumour, reports are saying we could make a move for the 6’3 Atalanta defender. We may offer a loan with a fee, with an option to buy or obligation to buy if we stay in the Premier League.

I can see that being a lot more likely, I don’t think we will want to spend the whole £40m afternoon already spending over £50m this window.

A player like Hein on loan with a loan fee of a few million would hopefully allow us to spend at least £15m on someone to replace Paquetá, and to be honest, I think that’s all we need.

One player I’d like to see us target is Romano Schmid, an Austrian centre midfielder from Werder Bremen.

The 25-year-old has created the second most big chances behind only Michael Olise of Bayern, and has created the third amount of chances behind only Olise and David Raum. He is also top of the key passes and expected assist metrics in the Bundesliga.

Schmid was linked with West Ham last summer, so he is a player on our radar. Bremen were reportedly looking for €15m back in July so maybe €20m could do it this month because he’s had such a good season so far. However, relegation rivals Leeds are reportedly in for the 31-capped Austrian international too.

He is just a creative machine, he isn’t going to help defensively much, only standing at 5’6, but that’s not what we need really. We don’t create enough chances, and bringing in one of the best creators in Europe’s top 5 leagues can only help, even if he gets most of his minutes off the bench.

Another player we should target is Ilan Kebbal of Paris FC. The Algerian who has already been linked with us this month is having a terrific first season in Ligue 1 with Paris FC after shining in their promotion season last year. 

Slightly older at 27, and less proven at a top level, Kebbal has created the most chances in the French top tier so far this year. So similarly to Schmid, if he can settle quickly he could be exactly what we need to escape the relegation zone.

Kebbal is a lot more of an attacker than Schmid however, playing most of his minutes off the right this season, but he is also equally capable of playing down the middle. This would give us a lot of options, would allow us to play Bowen at striker at times, or maybe rest him, or even drop him when he’s out of form.

While both of these signings would be unlikely, they aren’t completely impossible as some great sources have linked us with them previously.

If I had to choose one of these I would go with Schmidt. I think he’d slip into our midfield almost seemlessly.

Yes we’re playing a 4-4-2 at the moment, and I don’t think he could play in a double pivot with Fernandes. However. I think long term we will drop Pablo and move back to a 4-4-3 at some point.

This would allow us to start Schmid alongside Fernandes and one other, whether that be Soucek who is rejuvenated at the moment, or a more defensive player like Potts or Magassa could form a really strong, creative midfield.

Let’s hope Nuno and the board take replacing Paquetá seriously in the last week of the window, because we can’t afford to lose a player of his talent and not replace him.