Unprecedented scenes are unfolding at West Ham after Sky Sports delivered a staggering transfer update involving 11 players, underlining just how much the Hammers are justifiably panicking ahead of deadline day.
West Ham are in a mess and it has become abundantly clear new players are needed to save the season.
According to David Sullivan confidant Sean Whetstone in the wake of West Ham’s crushing 5-1 defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, the club’s board have seen enough and vowed to ‘get stuck in’ to making signings happen.
It was claimed the Hammers’ hierarchy have grown frustrated at the lack of progress made by Graham Potter and Kyle Macaulay in pursuit of their West Ham targets.
After sacking Tim Steidten earlier this year, majority owner Sullivan has reprised his role as the club’s de facto director of football.
West Ham’s owners confirmed Steidten would not be replaced amid rumours of a move for Dan Ashworth ahead of the summer transfer window.
Unprecedented transfer scenes at West Ham
Therefore it is safe to assume Sullivan is leading the charge from the board for new signings.
Fans would point to the scattergun nature of transfer links since the weekend as evidence Sullivan is ‘back at the wheel’ of West Ham’s transfer business.
The Hammers are quite clearly nailed on relegation candidates if they don’t make signings.
So with five days to go until the window slams shut, many supporters are past caring who is making the signings for now.
The structure of West Ham’s recruitment is quite obviously a major issue which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency going forward.
But for the next five days somebody needs to grab the proverbial transfer bull by the horns and get players in who can help breathe some life and energy into what is one of the two worst clubs in the country based on the first three games of the new season.
Potter set out this summer to drive down the average age of West Ham’s squad with his rebuild.
Signing 20-year-old El Hadji Malick Diouf and 25-year-old goalkeeper Mads Hermansen certainly did that.
Swapping them in for Aaron Cresswell and Lukasz Fabianski has shaved over 30 years off the cumulative age of the squad.
But the jury is very much out on Diouf and Hermansen after difficult starts.
And the jury is most certainly out on Potter, who is coming under mounting pressure ahead of West Ham’s trip to Nottingham Forest this Sunday.
Potter looks set to have at least one new signing available for that game with France Under 21 defensive midfielder Soungoutou Magassa in London for a medical ahead of penning a six-year deal.
He won’t be the last new arrival before the deadline, though, it seems.
There are unprecedented scenes at West Ham as Sky Sports shares a staggering 11-player transfer update.
Sky Sports shares staggering 11-player West Ham transfer update
In a flurry of West Ham updates on its transfer feed today, Sky Sports have claimed the club are actively pursuing eight players – while there are updates on three who could yet leave the London Stadium.
Hammers News has exclusively revealed West Ham’s new move for Botafogo goalkeeper John Victor is genuine.
Our report revealed the real reason West Ham’s owners have made a new move for Victor.
Now Sky Sports claim Victor still wants the move despite being snubbed by the Hammers for Hermansen.
A fee of £6m is mooted for Victor if the deal becomes permanent and, it is claimed, he fancies his chances of quickly establishing himself as West Ham’s number one.
Victor is just the tip of the iceberg of the Hammers’ huge late transfer drive.
Magassa is the second player mentioned in the report, with West Ham confident a £17.3m deal will be finalised soon.
The report confirms the Hammers did make a loan offer to Nottingham Forest for Ibrahim Sangare with an option to buy.
It is being reported today that Forest have rejected that offer and want a straight permanent deal or at the very least an obligation to make it permanent for a set price.
Hammers eye eight including goalkeeper and centre-back
The fourth player West Ham are said to be looking at is Strasbourg midfielder Junior Mwanga.
The 22-year-old centre-back is a product of Lyon’s academy but was loaned out to Le Havre in January by Strasbourg, who are owned by Chelsea’s hierarchy, BlueCo.
Reports elsewhere support Sky Sports’ claim about Mwanga, adding that a £7m bid has been made by the Hammers.
It is also reported that West Ham have registered their interest with Middlesbrough for Hayden Hackney while continuing to pursue prime target Mateus Fernandes of Southampton.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Aleix Garcia is an active target too, it is claimed, while reports from Germany state a £17m deal is already in place between West Ham and the club that knocked them out of Europe last April.
The last of the players West Ham are linked with in the Sky Sports report is Raheem Sterling.
The Chelsea outcast has been linked with the Hammers on several occasions in the last 18 months.
Now it is claimed Sterling is a player being considered by West Ham with Fulham and Palace also in the mix.
It is confirmed West Ham are in talks with Marseille over a deal for the ostracised Emerson Palmieri.
His best friend, Lucas Paqueta, could attract a late bid from Everton who may also try again with another offer for Tomas Soucek.
Potter promised West Ham fans an “exciting and interesting summer window” at the end of last season.
Well it may have been left far too late, but that’s certainly the case right now.
