West Ham Online

May as well get going with this since with Sullivan at the helm, season ticket renewals slow, and the football vacuum to commence, this will soon be all the "news" there is.

Can Potter and MacCauley pull multiple rabbits out of the hat, or will Sullivan 'try really hard' with all of them before grabbing a few aging bargains from Big Willie Salthouse?

Window this close season comes in two parts:

Part 1: 1st June to 10th June
Part 2: 16th June to 1st September

Rumoured Outs...most of the squad

Let the "Rumoured In's" commence. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Player | Position | Club | Fee (GBP)

Rumoured In

1. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic
2. Koni De Winter | CB | Genoa
3. Morten Frendrup | DM | Genoa
4. Richard Kone | ST | Wycombe
5. Aaron Ramsdale | GK | Southampton
6. Caiomin Kelleher | GK | Liverpool
7. James Trafford | GK | Burnley
8. Kyle Walker-Peters | FB | Free Agent
9. Taylor Harwood-Bellis | CB | Southampton
10. CJ Egan-Riley | CB | Free Agent
11. Josh Brownhill | CM | Free Agent
12. Albian Hajdari | CB | Lugano
13. Lucas Høgsberg | CB | FC Nordsjælland
14. Ardon Jashari | CM | Brugge
15. Raphael Onyedika | CM | Brugge
16. James McAtee | AM | Man City
17. Mario Struykens | AM | Anderlecht
18. Mathias Kvistgaarden | ST | Brondby
19. Clement Bischoff | LB | Brondby
20. Mika Biereth | FW | Monaco
21. Barış Alper Yılmaz | AM | Galatasaray
22. Evann Guessand | ST | Nice
23. Lucas Stassin | ST | Saint Etienne
24. Marcus Taverner | FW | Bournemouth
25. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco
26. Valentin Atangana | CM | Stade Reims
27. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester City
28. Hamza Igamane | ST | Rangers
29. Yeremay | FW | Deportivo La Coruna
30. Adama Bojang | ST | Reims
31. Rocco Reitz | MF | Borussia Moenchengladbach
32. Dominic Calvert-Lewin | ST | Free Agent
33. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LB | SK Slavia Prague
34. Oscar Mingueza | RB/MF | Celta Vigo
35. Tyler Morton | CM | Liverpool
36. Harvey Elliott | AM | Liverpool
37. Zion Suzuki | GK | Parma
38. John Victor | GK | Botofogo 
39. Jacob Ramsey | MF | Villa
40. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton
41. Nga Makou | CM | Lille
42. Quinten Timber | CM
43. Hayden Hackney | CM | Boro
44. Yves Bissouma | CM | Spurs

Rumoured Out

1. Nayef Aguerd | CB | Leverkusen, Marseile
2. Maxel Cornet | FW | Genoa/Others
3. Guido Rodriguez | DM | Betis/Espanyol
4. Tomas Soucek | CM | Everton
5. Michail Antonio | ST | Free Agent
6. Mo Kudus | FW | Chelsea/Newcastle/Arsenal
7. Lucas Paqueta | AM | Man City
8. Andy Irving | CM | Celtic/Wrexham
9. Emerson | LB | Marseille

Confirmed In

1. Jean Clair Todibo | CB | Loan To Perm (32m)
2. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic (Free Agent...Tribunal)
3. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LWB | Slavia Prahia | 20m
4. Kyle Walker-Peters | RWB | Free Agent
5. C****m Wilson | ST | Free Agent
6. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester (18m)
7. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton (38m + 4m)
8. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco (17m)
9. Igor Julio | CB | Brighton (Loan)

Confirmed Out

1. Aaron Cresswell | LB | Free Agent | 0m
2. Danny Ings | ST | Free Agent | 0m
3. Vladimir Coufal | RB | Free Agent | 0m
4. Lukusz Fabianski | GK | Free Agent | 0m
5. Kamari Swyer | AM | Free Agent | 0m
6. Kurt Zouma | CB | Free Agent | 0m
7. Carlos Soler | CM | PSG | End of Loan
8. Evan Ferguson | ST | Brighton | End of Loan
9. Brad Dolaghan | Released
10. Dondre Abraham | Released
11. Mehmet Halim | Released
12. Muhammed Judus |stroppy| sp*rs| £55m
13. Michail Antonio | Released
14. Kieran Casey | Swansea | Loan
15. Edson Alvarez | Fenerbache | Loan with Option
16. Emerson | Marseille | £1m
17. Aguerd | Marseille | £20m
18. Max Cornet | Genoa | Loan

Morton to Lyon. 15m. Not bad for a promising England u21. 

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 18:15 A player in their 30s on a clear downturn who plays in a position we are already well stocked in, BUT he's a bit razzle dazzle and has a 'proven' past albeit 3-4 years ago and likely won't cost loads to bring in but will likely contribute fuck all and we have absolutely zero ROI on as they eat up a massive wage each week.....

Well I fucking wonder who at the club is the driving force behind this one as well, then, if it happens?

All this bullshit about having no money. There clearly is money. It's just that Sullivan wants to play fantasy football rather than let his employees actually build a squad that makes sense.

Stirling stinks of Sully. If this is true anyone that watched any Arsenal games last year will know he was terrible. He has lost his pace and with it the ability to beat people. 

If we are unluckily enough to get him how does he fit in? Potter is very clearly playing a 532 and Stirling does not fit that system. Not only that what would it mean for Summerville and Guilherme, they both need game time.

Lastly do we need a player that runs like Velma from Scooby Doo and is unwanted by CFC, City and Arsenal?

Yup very true context is always needed. But I've got to disagree about some of that. Passing accuracy should be better if your team is better, less under the cosh and you're under less pressure. Save percentage will correlate directly to the quality of chances your team allows the opposition to create. If you equalise the games played he's made the least saves of the three keepers. Fabianski incidentally had to make notably more than Areola. The only thing you can really conclude from this is from comparing Areola and Fabianski to say that if that set of stats is a good marker, we got rid of the wrong goalkeeper.

Goals prevented as a stat is really the only thing in there I can hang my hat on to hope this won't turn out to be another short sighted penny pinching mistake causing us to be looking for another goalkeeper next summer.

Well, that's the trouble with all stats: no context. 

To be fair though, it's quite common for the goalkeeper in a poor team to have better stats as he has more to do. And stats like save percentage, passing accuracy and goals prevented don't have as much to do with the defence in front of the keeper.

Bit incomparable seen as his club were champions and we were almost relegated. You'd expect all his stats to be a lot better. It speaks nothing of what sort of shots he was having to save vs Areola and Fabianski and doesn't really tell us anything substantial. He obviously had far better players comparatively in front of him than either of ours did.

We'll just have to see how he does in the PL behind our back 4 for a proper comparison. I'm hoping for the best but expecting a clown show.
 

A player in their 30s on a clear downturn who plays in a position we are already well stocked in, BUT he's a bit razzle dazzle and has a 'proven' past albeit 3-4 years ago and likely won't cost loads to bring in but will likely contribute fuck all and we have absolutely zero ROI on as they eat up a massive wage each week.....

Well I fucking wonder who at the club is the driving force behind this one as well, then, if it happens?

All this bullshit about having no money. There clearly is money. It's just that Sullivan wants to play fantasy football rather than let his employees actually build a squad that makes sense.

Oh shit! Just double checked Sterling to West Ham and you's weren't joking it's on!

Yet another over the hill, injury-prone, expensive player that turned in to a flop at his last couple of Clubs.

So much for drastically lowering the age (31 before the years out) of the Squad and getting plenty of youth in to it..

So looks like the keeper is a definite. Not going to rehash the is he too shit again, no point now. We'll see. One thing though. We've allegedly agreed 10 million, but his release clause was apparently around 6? What the fuck?

Oh and it appears Sullivan did his usual lowballing, when he doesn't want a player, to Leicester over that keeper. Interesting that he jumps right in and possibly actually pays over the odds when it's a brown envelope special.

Graham 'The ultimate Yes Man' Potter. The Sullivan/Brady wet dream of a manager.

Cheers Jonesy

When Sterling and Brownhill sign I will post an even longer one with just the Sullivan quote repeated 1000 times

Sir Alf's post can be summed up as follows
Potter.   Weak
Sullivan. cսnt

Can someone read Sir Alfs post and just give me the gist of it please.

War & peace every fucking time 

A lot of fans possibly dont see why, even if some players secured by Sullivan via his agents turn out to be good (AWB, KWP ?),  that Sullivans whole approach is knee jerk, short term, disjointed thinking and is no way to get or sustain success for a top tier professional football club. There is no continuity, many players do not fit with a managers tactics or philosophy and definitely not from one manager to the next. Successive managers have not being chosen to fit a philosophy or long term plan for the football side of the business. Hence so many players and managers have struggled in or with patchwork or incomplete teams over the 15 years Sullivan has been at the helm. 

It does seem to support the idea that Sullivan really does not reach for anything better than staying in the top flight. The levels of sustained or extra investment too much a risk in his mind?  But then he wastes so much money with his “approach”. As Scorch and others say, why would he, for example, throw money away on Wilson who is an injury nightmare and why go for a cheap GK who cannot play with his feet to build attacks from deep which is what the manager seems to be trying to implement?  Is he asset rich and cash poor? So needs these deals with agents to get a few million in his account? I guess its a way if syphoning off some cash from money that is really part of the business if as we suspect there are “kick backs”? Or is he simply using the club as he own version of a “football manager” game? I mean he has nothing else to do and now it seems David Jnr has been given a “job” and be his successor? 

In short, the most successful businesses, regardless of industry, have a long term plan and strategy, devise a yearly operating plan to implement the strategy and employ the best qualified people to oversee it. Its why conpanies pay a lot for a CEO or football clubs pay a lot for a DOF. And they stick with the strategy and refine it as they go and in football a recruitment plan is a big part of it. We have what appears to be a megalomaniac in charge, involving himself ( a non qualified, non football man) and undermining any chance of implementing any sort of long term plan. A man who “shoots from the hip” or employs a process of “ready, fire, aim”.

The Euro conf win was a happy accident that has probably Sullivan claims is down to him such is his dellusion and self-aggrandisation.  

We’ve been saying the same thing over and over for 10 years at least of the 15 years Sullivan has been our owner.  He has been and continues to be an unmitigated, disaster for this club and nothing will ever really progress until his family are no longer connected to West Ham. 

In the meantime, welcome to Josh Brownhill to the sound of rustling brown envelopes being exchanged in the background with Will. 

Sterling would solve a lot of our squad problems. In his few months at Chelsea Potter managed to play him as a striker, No 10, right winger, left winger, right wing back and left wing back. There's no doubt Potter would get him back to his best form as well. Obviously there's nothing an attacker likes more than playing in a different role every other game.

I remember watching one of the Own Goals and Gaffs video’s years ago where Danny Baker calls Fulham the team that would always get once good players on free transfers at the end of their career.

That’s us now, we’re that team, except we sold our home to do it 

RE Sterling. I saw a leaked photo of him posing in the new KAPPA kit while signing his contract. 

HERE WE GO

Swiss. wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 12:46
Mark "'Ï've stole and am still stealing a living off this club" Noble 

 

Double post oopsie

I reckon SULLY would love Sterling.

I think we get him.

El Scorchio" wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 15:10 We weren't. AFAIK the original message was to get a new number 1 keeper to replace him when the talk was about the Leicester or Parma lads, but that story changed coincidentally the exact same time it emerged this guy was in talks as 'competition' for Areola, not as a number 1. The old classic of adjusting expectations down when Sullivan sniffs out a 'bargain' wrapped in a brown envelope.

 

scott_d wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 16:09

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 14:59

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 15:13 Sterling would be a useful addition.

Looks like this is happening now.

Why?  Is he a good physio?  

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑05 Aug 2025, 14:59

Mad Ferret" wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 15:13 Sterling would be a useful addition.

Looks like this is happening now.

Take it from me this Brazilian  keeper will be gone by this time next year.

Another dud keeper yet we could have had Mads or Cooper.

Why did Sullivan authorise Macauley? Makes no sense to me.