Robert Snodgrass is a great addition, but West Ham need more this January

West Ham look set to announce the signing of Robert Snodgrass in the coming hours. But is he the key to the club progressing?

West Ham have been in for Snodgrass during the entire window. The board put in a pretty low bid of 3m earlier on, but have been forced up to 10m. Not a bad fee for a player who is scoring regularly and the key player in a struggling side.

However, do the club desperately need a player like Snodgrass? I mean we have quite a few attacking midfielders, especially once Ayew comes back from AFCON, so surely the money could have been spent elsewhere? A right back or a striker?

Robert Snodgrass

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This looks like the board have gone to acknowledge Payet will not play for the club again. Given the Scotsman’s proficiency at set pieces and ability out wide it looks a pretty straight replacement. Granted Snodgrass hasn’t been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, but he’s still a good player.

At 10m he is fairly cheap for a premier league player, especially one who is on form. He will certainly run his heart out and possibly add a little bit of quality to West Ham’s final third which can seem a little simple at times. In this league it’s impossible to underestimate the impact of top quality set pieces as well.

However at 29 he is not a particularly long term solution. He adds to the squad, but he’s not going to revolutionise the way the team play for the next 5 years. And given the players many have identified the club need to be signing, is it a sensible move?

Is it good business?

Well for me it all depends on whether the club make any other signings.

Many have already identified that the team is lacking another striker and cover at right back. It’s great to have Byram and Carroll both back and playing well, but given their records it could be next week that they’re both rules out for a serious length of time.

Hogan is still rumoured to be close to signing, and that would relieve the pressure on Carroll. Providing Snodgrass with pace in front of him is vital as well, and the signing of the Brentford man would certainly give the side more options up front.

However Slaven Bilic is apparently not impressed with the options available this month at right back. He is considering waiting until the summer to sign his main target Trippier from Spurs. The North Londoners are not very quick at doing business in the transfer market and the likelihood of getting a good deal out of them before this window closes is low.

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So if West Ham do sign Hogan, this Snodgrass deal will have to be classed as good. If not, then it’s all how it pans out. Not signing another striker will leave us short up front, and that’s a recipe for disaster. A right back would have been nice, but I can’t knock being careful when looking at January transfers, because they don’t always work out.