Felipe Anderson’s loan move only solves one issue but leaves two open for West Ham
West Ham have reportedly let Felipe Anderson join Porto on loan for the season. He joins just in time to be registered for the Champions League.
However good this deal is for the player, West Ham had three issues they needed to solve with player movements this window, and this only moves one of them in a positive direction. Although we’ve taken a big wage concern off for the season, we have no money to sort a replacement and our squad depth is looking dangerously low.
Wages
Obviously, finances are a big issue for a lot of clubs, although we seem to be the only Premier League club having to scramble to solve those issues with deals that don’t make long term sense. Our wage bill is both too high and poorly structured, in that we have a lot of wages currently being spent on players who aren’t first-team regulars.
Therefore it does make sense that we want to let Felipe Anderson go because he has struggled to deal with David Moyes’ style of play and having that amount of money being spent on a bench player just isn’t sustainable. It enables the club to plan for the future and also, potentially anyway, offer higher wages to new signings. Even though the international window is open, we can sign players domestically.
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Funds for Replacement
However one of the big issues with getting a replacement wasn’t the wage issue (on this front, Jack Wilshere leaving also helps) but the fee. Apparently, West Ham didn’t have the cash lying around to make serious bids for players without selling some of their own assets, so seeing one of their more marketable players leave without a fee isn’t great on that front.
With the activity we’ve seen so far the club considers this window even, with the Tomas Soucek and Vladamir Coufal fee being paid for by Grady Diangana leaving and overdue instalments from previous transfers in having to be paid by the transfers of Jordan Hugill and Josh Cullen. So if the club is to be believed, we have no money for any replacement. Even if we’re one of only three clubs in the Premier League to have a transfer window profit.
It seems that this next level talk is just that…talk.
Squad Depth
On a similar front, we’re now leaving ourselves very thin on the ground for squad management. At the start of the window, we had the third thinnest squad and the third oldest squad in the Premier League. From there we’ve managed to raise the average age by selling two younger homegrown assets, sign a 28-year-old right-back (although I do like the look of Coufal) and fail to add to our only 3 dedicated centre backs.
Letting Felipe Anderson go, in my view, leaves us with no out and out left-wingers. Robert Snodgrass prefers playing on the right, Arthur Masuaku is a converted left-back and Pablo Fornals IS NOT A WINGER! So yeah, what is West Ham’s squad management plan when you let someone like Anderson go after already having sold another left-winger without a replacement ready to come in?
Next. West Ham business disappoints on transfer deadline day. dark
West Ham are flirting with disaster, and could well end up relying on other teams being worse in order to avoid relegation if injury befalls a couple of key players.