Hammer Times - West Ham United Blog

Can we focus on football now?

Wed, 02 Sep 2009

Well the cattle market that is the summer transfer window has finally slammed shut. The pie-in-the-sky rumours and minute-by-minute checking of news sources can finally halt... which is a shame, because although the summer window was nail biting for most West Ham fans, it provided daily topics for discussion, banter and opinion.

Now it's over, the days seem a bit empty don't they? The twitter updates are less, the stories on newsnow becomes more stale and to top it all off we're on an international break. Terrific... we're left to ponder what could have been over the summer transfer period:

Outs:
Lee Bowyer
Lucas Neill
Savio Nsereko
James Collins
Fred Sears (loan)

Ins:
Frank Nouble
Fabio Daprela
Luis Jimenez (loan)
Alessandro Diamanti
Manuel Da Costa

Now everyone (including the board) knew that our main need was an out-and-out striker, and the fact we didn't truly address this has bothered me deeply. The trust I had started to afford Duxberry after his frank and straight shooting recent interviews has started to wane in the face of the sale of James Collins for what seems like nothing other than to appease the debt of some of the clubs creditors.

The Chamakh deal never really looked like it would take off with us not having the cash at the time. This last minute transfer window blurb about Benjani is utter tosh, we don't need bench warmers, we need a goal scorer. Diamanti is more of a playmaker forward, now he did score 16goals last term, but that was in Italy's second tier, so I'm guessing time will have to tell on this one. All signs so far point toward him being a good player for us, but can he bang in the 15 league goals we so desperately need to complement Cole? I'm not so sure. I've heard that he is a free kick specialst too, so that can only help his (and our) cause.

The loss of Savio also came as quite a surprise. Yes, he was struggling and yes, he was lightweight, but come on. You've got to give the guy a year at least to try and settle in and bulk up. At the end of the day he was a forward, and replacing him with a defender seemed puzzling.

I like the signings of youngsters Nouble and Daprela, but I don't think either of them will have much of an impact this season, barring a run of injuries to Ilunga, Spector, Cole, Diamanti, Jimenez and Stanislas... but as we all know, that could quite easily become a reality. Are they experienced enough to make a difference against top class opposition if required?

And what on earth, I mean seriously, what on earth has happened to Dean Ashton? If I were him I would be taking a long hard look at retirement if he really is still suffering from this same ankle injury. We've heard nothing on his recovery for a long time, which can mean he is coming along on schedule... or he is quietly being ushered out of the door. It's such a shame, because at the moment a healthy Dean Ashton is exactly what we need. Hah, how often have we all said that?

I'm hoping that in the January window we use the Collins money to fashion a last cut-price bid for Chamakh, or at least another out and out striker. But for now, well, we'll just have to put all of our thoughts and focus on matters on the pitch. How strange a concept that seems...