With just a day left of the transfer window, West Ham are looking to sign a centre-back.

The Hammers have had a decent transfer window on paper, but it’s been a very long one for the fans to endure. The signings came too late, and we’re still yet to address everything we need.

With the likely outgoings still to happen, West Ham need a winger and a defensive midfielder as well as a central defender.

Edvin Austbø is coming in as the winger, but a defensive midfielder doesn’t look any closer. As for central defence, it looks as though we’re going to target an ‘experienced’ Premier League defender.

Earlier in the week it looked as though it would be Michael Keane; however, that now looks unlikely. The most recent link doesn’t really fit in with Keane, but it’s 25-year-old defender Morato from Nottingham Forest.

The Brazilian is said to be available on loan, which I’m sure is music to West Ham’s ears, but we need to make sure it’s without an obligation to buy this time.

Morato has worked under Nuno before at Nottingham Forest; it’s unlikely he decided to sign him with Marinakis at the club, but he did play 28 times under him in 24/25, which suggests he likes him. He is left-sided too, so he could play alongside either Mavropanos or Golambeckis comfortably.

However, talking of left-sided centre-backs, earlier in the week ExWHUEmployee linked us with a move to sign Tyrone Mings from Aston Villa.

Now this is exactly what West Ham need at the back: a leader, someone with real PL and Championship to take charge of that defence and talk to the players around him, to not let them get away with the silly mistakes we’ve seen so far this season.

He is 33-years-old now, and I doubt we’d get him on loan. So, we’d likely have to pay a decent fee and wages on at least a 2-year contract, but I think it’s worth it.

He’d be a crucial first-team player for us this year, but then next year, if we’re back in the Premier League, he could be that third-choice centre-back who still gets a lot of minutes.

I feel like we’re in such a state at the moment that we need to bring the best players we can to get us out of this rut, and Mings is a lot better, a lot less rash, and a much better fit than Morato is right now.