West Ham Get Embarrassed by Trio of Premier League Players
By Adam Smith
The International transfer window slammed shut on West Ham who evidently couldn’t even negotiate loan deals from rival Premier League clubs. Shambles.
Three loan deals were tabled by David Sullivan to “support” his manager and team after hollowing out the squad over the summer. These three deals were on top of countless lowball offers to European teams for solid players identified by David Moyes, but none were brought into the club?
Why the failure on these deals? Because David Sullivan, chief negotiator at West Ham, refused to inject any money of his own to top off offers that the Grady Diangana money was being used to finance. All rejected, all without any apparent further negotiations.
Sullivan got his just-desserts, though, as a trio of Premier League bench players refused loan deals to come to West Ham. The egg on Sullivan’s face is not going unnoticed, but unfortunately, it is the fanbase that loses out after he’s failed yet again to keep his promises.
Rob Holding – Arsenal
An early offer in this window in comparison to the Hammers’ deadline day shopping spree gone wrong, Rob Holding of Arsenal was the first player to reject the chance to join West Ham after rumours emerged that he was a target. The interest was reported on September 15th as Moyes needed to support his new centre-back heavy formation.
By September 17th, Holding had refused the deal which would have cost the club £5m to secure. Instead, Holding opted for the chance to work his way into Mikel Arteta’s team and has done well so far, playing every minute of 3 Premier League matches, 2 EFL Cup matches, and the Community Shield.
Antonio Rudiger – Chelsea
Maybe this was a bullet dodged, but Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger was the first Blue to reject the Hammers, this time just two days prior to the end of the transfer window. The man who single-handedly gave West Ham the game against Chelsea last season, who proved in front of the board, coaching staff and every supporter out there that he wasn’t good, was being actively pursued by this club.
Regardless, Rudiger declined the move rather immediately, almost as soon as the story emerged. Like Holding, Rudiger wants to stay at his own club to try and win a first-team place while also reportedly viewing a move to West Ham as a step down. The feeling is mutual, and Sullivan lucked out here.
Fikayo Tomori – Chelsea
The deadline deal that actually had supporters hoping their club would pay wasted money to help develop a player from a team that will be relentlessly poaching their best academy graduate in the past decade! Or, as we call it, a Sullivan special! Fikayo Tomori, a young English centre-back, on paper was a good fit but the lack of time invested in this deal ended up making it impossible to get over the line.
Just kidding, he rejected us too! Tomori, who is battling Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, and Zouma for minutes, reportedly needed assurance from West Ham that he would have regular starting minutes, seemingly scared to challenge Aaron Cresswell and Fabian Balbuena for their spots. Losers mentality.
All of these deals fell through because of one common aspect, David Sullivan at the helm. The toxic owner of this club couldn’t buy the opportunity to take player wages off of other clubs because his own club is viewed too poorly. Diangana wasn’t sold for this and the supporters are done with his antics.