If West Ham are truly interested in breaking into Europe this season, as they should be, Celtic’s Moussa Dembele would be a good player to start off with.
Dembele is one of the hottest properties in Europe thanks to his scoring success at Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. The young hot shot is exactly the sort of strong, physical and yet finely skilled player that would create a perfect partnership with Javier Hernandez at West Ham.
Dembele would not be cheap but with clubs like Everton beginning to spend 45 million on single players it is time for West Ham to either put up or shut up. Dembele could be tempted south of the border by the prospect of it being a career move. If West Ham include a high salary and a minimum fee release clause that seems fair to both parties then there is no reason why it shouldn’t appeal to Dembele.
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Long Shot, but worth a go
He should think of the opportunity to play in the Premier League day in and day out as almost an audition. Sure he may not finish his career in East London but the Hammers could find the 2-3 years that he is auditioning for an even bigger move to be mutually beneficial.
Think, if Romelu Lukaku just left Everton for 75 million pounds at age 24 then Dembele at age 21 could play three years at the Hammers before that age. If the transfer market continues to inflate that means it would be almost a bargain, in relative terms, to set his minimum fee release clause at 90 million pounds plus add ons. Team’s like minimum fee release clauses because they take away the long and arduous negotiating period. PSG overpaid for Neymar because the release clause made it easy to do so.
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If West Ham buy Dembele for 40-42 million and eventually sell him for 90-95 after three years and roughly 45-60 goals that’s a fantastic return. Is it a traditional way of thinking about transfers? No, not at all. But it’s the sort of outside the box thinking that helps turn teams into shock contenders and that’s what people want any way right? To eventually someday maybe be the team that knocks the big-6 monopoly on the title away.