West Ham could announce the signing of Watford veteran defender Craig Dawson for a minimal fee in the coming days.
Craig Dawson has been a rumoured target of West Ham’s all summer, but many fans hoped it was a back-up plan that would not be needed. The club, however, failed to bring in a defender to challenge for a first-team spot before the European window closed.
The Hammers were interested in many centre-backs such as James Tarkowski, Jonathan Tah, Duje Caleta-Car, Wesley Fofana, Antonio Rudiger and Fikayo Tomori. But the club failed with moves for all of them, including Tomori’s loan deal breaking down only minutes before the transfer window shut.
The EFL domestic window has given David Moyes another chance to strengthen his team for the rest of the season. The club have been linked with Championship defenders such as Joe Rodon and Joe Worrall and Ben Davies.
Defenders of this calibre seem to be out of reach for Hammers. Rodon prefers a move to Tottenham, and the other two could cost too much money. West Ham will be struggling for funds to sign a top centre-back, should they complete a new £30 million deal for Brentford winger Said Benrahma.
This move would make Benrahma West Ham’s third most expensive player of all time. But it does mean the Hammers must strengthen the backline with minimal expense. The deal to sign Dawson it rumoured to be around £2-£3 million, and personal terms will be relatively low compared to the wages of Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop.
Dawson is being signed as fourth or fifth choice centre-back if Aaron Cresswell is defined as a centre-back as per his current role in the side. The 30-year-old does have plenty of Premier League experience and has a decent goalscoring record for a defender.
Despite these positives, Dawson’s defensive ability is not close to the Hammers current options, and he has faced back to back relegations. In 2018/19 the defender was relegated with West Brom and suffered the same fate last season with Watford.
Should Dawson be signed, he could be announced in the coming days as reported by ExWHUemployee. The defender could prove to be a back-up Hammer’s fans can be content with. Though it would be preferred that no injuries are suffered to the current first-choice defenders who have just kept back-to-back clean-sheets.