If today’s reports are anything to go by, West Ham have joined Stoke and Southampton in the race for Tottenham outcast Aaron Lennon.
The 27-year-old is not wanted by boss Mauricio Pochettino and is expected to leave White Hart Lane for around £7million this month.
Given our ‘new’ style of play, you wonder why we’re reportedly interested in a player who is an out-and-out right winger. Signing him would no doubt further enhance Allardyce’s eagerness to revert back to 4-5-1 to accommodate Andy Carroll.
He’s got pace, which compliments our style, but that’s pretty much it. Spurs fans on forums all over the internet repeatedly suggest he always had the potential but his final ball let him down more often than not. If that’s the case – they watch him more than we do – then we should end our interest right now.
On Twitter, we asked our 9,000+ Twitter followers what they’d think of us signing Aaron Lennon. ChelmoHammer echoed the aforementioned worries about formation, with a certain emphasis on reverting back to the style we all know doesn’t particularly work for us, while Muzza is dreading the return of last year’s nightmare…
@WestHamWorld I can't see where he would fit in, and would encourage the use of the 4-5-1 formation…..
— ChelmoHammer (@ChelmoHammer) January 3, 2015
@WestHamWorld bad as it means last year football coming back
— Muzza (@muzza210) January 3, 2015
Charlie Donald reckons it’d be a pretty irrelevant deal, although he can see some sense in the deal due to the need for squad depth…
@WestHamWorld a bit irrelevant don't you think? Not the answer to our "problems" but surely nothing wrong with squad depth being increased?
— Charlie Donald (@chewly_donald) January 3, 2015
But it’s Alex Shilling who hits the nail on the head with this one. Ambition is what we all bang on about, particularly with the move to the Olympic Stadium not far away and the brilliant season we’ve had so far. We want to compete with the best, so why should we sign our rival’s outcasts?..
@WestHamWorld If we're serious about competing with Spurs et al, we have to show more ambition than picking off their sloppy seconds. No ta!
— Alex Shilling (@alexshilling) January 3, 2015
And Geoff Lockwood wants to be a little bit more ruthless in our ambition. Compete with Spurs? Nah, let’s go one better…
@alexshilling @WestHamWorld I don't just want us to compete with them, I want to leave them as also runs, eating our dust
— Geoff 父 Lockwood (@geoffl65) January 3, 2015
So there you have it. A few years ago, the possibility of signing Lennon may have got Hammers fans excited. But now we want better and our ambition shows that. Lennon is clearly not the player he once was, otherwise he’d still be getting in the Spurs side, right?
A few more Hammers fans’ opinions on Lennon below…
The reason Jarvis doesn't play is because we don't play wide men. So to see us linked heavily with Lennon, worries me. #whufc #COYI
— Diafra's White Son (@SamWilsonWhu) January 3, 2015
Lets hope the reports linking us to @SpursOfficial Aaron Lennon is rubbish. Wouldn't want him if the last player on earth. He is CRAP #whufc
— GEEDEE (@GEEDEE35) January 3, 2015
@ElvinWestside simple answer,no, not for me, Lennon is in the wrong sport,fantastic pace,no end product,wouldnt want him at #whufc
— Bryan (@bacd70) January 2, 2015