West Ham fans have always had a small gripe with the current owners over the way they spend money.
We’ve broken our transfer record yet again with the signing of Sebastien Haller, but the net spend is what is concerning us Hammers supporters.
Granted, the signing of the likes of Haller and Fornals could see us break the top eight, but we need to be more savvy with the way we do business.
If you fancy us to get into the top eight, it might be worth backing us at 11/1 with some bookies to be the best of the lot outside of the top six. A good price. Effectively that means seventh, but that’s certainly achievable.
There are plenty of bookmakers to bet with but try and get the best price. Bet on Blackbet for example, or bet365, or BetVictor. They all have prices available.
Player sales in the last 12 months
The recent sales are also concerning. Why do we sell players on the cheap? There are players getting sold for £50m left, right, and centre, yet here we are practically giving away some of our players. Let’s give you some recent examples…
Marko Arnautovic
Sold for £22.5m. Ok, we couldn’t do a lot about the sale as Marko wanted to leave. We did well to get this much for him, but he’s a £30m+ player if he was going on good terms. We lost a little here.
Pedro Obiang
Most fans are pretty sad to see him go. He went to Sassuolo recently for around £7.2m, but he’s worth at least double figures. He’s only 27 after all.
You only need to look at Moussa Sissoko going for £30m a few years ago to realise how much of a bargain the Italian club have got here. He’ll always be fondly remembered for his goal of the season a couple of years back at Wembley against Spurs. What a strike.
Edimilson Fernandes
Sold to Mainz for around £6.75m. He’s only 23! In an ideal world, you’d be asking for a least £10m-£15m plus add-ons.
He’s also a Swiss International, which is why a few fans were upset to see him leave for very little. OK, his chances with us were very limited, but there’s a lot of potential there.
Lucas Perez
Bought from Arsenal on the cheap, sold to Alaves on the cheap. £2.2m to be exact. Pennies. Now we know he’s not a world beater, but he knows where the net is. He’s a very good striker, and he should have been sold for a least the same amount we paid for him. Another couple of million lost with the sale of Perez.
Sam Byram
Now this was a little disappointing. £750k. Although Sky Sports said it was £750m, it’s not sadly. Now for a young right-back who was very highly thought of at Leeds, and who is only 25, Norwich robbed us blind.
Again, he was another player who probably wasn’t going to be in and around the first team anymore, and his contract was running down, but less than £1m for a Premier League player?! Very surprised by this one.
Domingos Quina
We got rid of Domingos Quina for around £1m. He’s only 19! You’ve got to hope that we added a substantial fee if he ever moves again.
He’s yet to win an International cap, but he played a few times for Watford last season and looked sharp. We could well be licking our wounds in a few years after selling him for such a tiny amount.
Marcus Browne
Sold recently to Middlesbrough for £300k. Yes, you read that right. It’s understandable that we were looking to sell Browne as his chances were limited, but that fee is very, very low. Boro have bagged a player with huge potential.
That’s all it is at the moment, though, potential. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him become a top player if he gets game time in the Championship.
Who’s next to be sold?
We could go back a few more years, but we’d be here all day. Whoever is in charge of player sales need to sharpen up a little if truth be told. Yes, ok, we’ve lowered the wage bill a lot, but we can’t keep buying players for big money and selling for a pittance. No wonder we’re not debt free yet.
Who knows how much Declan Rice will be sold for in a year or two? And he will be if someone comes in with a silly offer. There’s no loyalty in football anymore sadly, and nobody could blame him for moving on if we have another average season this year.
Let’s not forget we still have our £10m purchase Jordan Hugill on our books. How much will he go for? £3m, £4m, £5m? It’ll be for a hell of a lot less than we paid that’s for sure.
