The January transfer window is officially open and West Ham have a lot of work to do.
The team’s form up to this point in the season meant it was obvious Julen Lopetegui and Tim Stiedten would need to be active this winter if they are to strengthen the squad further and improve fortunes on the pitch.
Jarrod Bowen’s injury – a fractured bone in his foot – picked up against Liverpool last weekend, further escalated the need to sign another striker. With him and Michail Antonio sidelined, we’re left with just Niclas Fullkrug and Danny Ings as the squad’s only recognised strikers.
Meanwhile, there are issues in both midfield and defence.
The ideal January transfer window would see a central midfielder, striker and centre-back come in, but we all know it’s very unlikely our wishes will come true.
But there are opportunities this winter for the club to do some very shrewd business.
As it’s January 1st, players across the world who are now into the final six months of their contract are free to speak to overseas clubs about summer moves. Indeed, we need the players now, not the summer, but this also means their respective clubs will either be keen to get them tied down to new contracts or will be looking to offload them this winter to avoid losing them for nothing at the end of the season.
This is where West Ham can come in.
The list of players across the world who are in the final months of their contracts is extensive and includes a number of top-class players. Many of them will be out of reach purely on the basis of reputation and talent alone. Others, though, already exist on the club’s shortlist.
Lille striker Jonathan David is the most obvious one. West Ham had reportedly agreed a £30m deal for the Canada international in the summer put pulled out due to extortionate agent fees involved in the deal.
The 24-year-old has been linked with the Hammers for the best part of two years now and given the club were so close to signing him in the summer, it would not be a surprise if they looked to revisit a potential agreement this winter, especially given how desperate the striker situation has become at London Stadium.
It was reported in November that David had decided to rundown his contract at the Ligue 1 outfit, which means it might be in the French club’s interest to seek a transfer this month in order to recoup some revenue before their star striker leaves for nothing.
Elsewhere, former Hammers transfer target Jonathan Tah is on the list and available to have discussions. The centre-back was part of the Bayer Leverkusen side that went unbeaten in the Bundesliga last season and knocked West Ham out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage.
We were last linked with the defender last winter but his form for the Bundesliga side at the time made it incredibly difficult to get a deal done, especially as Xabi Alonso’s side were in the middle of going an entire league season without defeat.
As things stand, Max Kilman is the only guaranteed starter at the centre of defence, with Jean-Clair Todibo and Konstantinos Mavropanos rotating alongside the Englishman. Neither have particularly impressed enough to make that position their own, meaning adding a fourth centre-back to the mix could help Lopetegui tighten up his defence quicker than he’s currently doing.
In midfield, England international Angel Gomes is also available to have discussions with. The attacking midfielder’s form for Lille has seen him break into the England squad for the first time, and at just 24-years-old is still not at the peak of his career.
There have been no official links to Gomes as of yet, but he’s player who could be a cute addition to the squad given his recent form and development into an international regular.
The former Man United academy star might be seen as a suitable alternative to Lucas Paqueta, whose future remains up in the air amid his ongoing betting charges and recent reports linking him with a return to Brazil.
Elsewhere, with the summer more in mind, the likes of Napoli midfielder Frank Anguissa, Man United winger Amad Diallo, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Columbus Crew forward Cucho Hernandez should all be on Stiedten’s radar over the next six to eight months.
For the likes of David, Gomes and Tah, it might be worth West Ham seeking a winter transfer instead of waiting until the summer. The players will likely be available at a cut price, although there’s also the chance the players themselves would rather wait until the summer, as contracts for free agents can be far more lucrative for the players and their agents.
Either way, there is a huge opportunity for West Ham to do some shrewd business this winter. But they’ll have to move quickly.
