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

Rumoured Out

1. Nayef Aguerd | CB | Leverkusen, Marseille,  Juventus |  ~25m
2. Maxel Cornet | FW | Genoa/Others
3. Guido Rodriguez | DM | Betis/River Plate 
4. Tomas Soucek | CM | Everton
5. Michail Antonio | ST | Free Agent
6. Mo Kudus | FW | Chelsea/Newcastle/Arsenal
7. Lucas Paqueta | AM | Multiple/Ban
8. Andy Irving | CM | Celtic

Confirmed In

1. Jean Clair Todibo | CB | Loan To Perm (32m)

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

Some people seem to think that Football Manager is real life.

For starters, in FM you can sign players outside of Will Salthouses stable.

Sign him up.  He's probably still as quick as the rest of our midfield.

Carrick has been sacked.

Nothing wrong with selling Kudus for a profit if you have a succession plan in place and a young player ready to replace them either already in the squad or an identified target. We NEVER do which is where we fall over.

This is what Brighton particularly have managed to do with huge success relative to the size of club they are. Lose Caicedo and MacAllister? No problem. Step forward next young player off the line who cost them fuck all two years ago and will be worth multitudes more in two years time, while the team barely misses a beat.
Great talent spotting and most of them recruited with a specific purpose in mind.

 

 by Alan » 04 Jun 2025, 10:11"Just had a trawl through a Southampton forum to see what they thought of Ramsdale.
I didn't find one negative comment about him and the general opinion was that he was their best player by a distance and far too good for them."


That's fair enough, I'll always listen to the majority of fans of a club when rating a player of theirs, over people on here who have seen him a handful of times, including myself.

I just find it hard to believe a keeper who let in 80+ goals in a season has been fautless. He might not have made a mistake directly leading to a goal, but I think it's a fair guess that he could have kept a fair few more out than that. We can't have been far behind for shots conceded over the season. As an example, imo he should've kept the one out that Bowen scored for us, got a weak hand on it.

Still, their fans will know more than me. Can't help thinking that the £20mil+ would be much better spent elsewhere, don't really see an upgrade on Areola, and I'm not the biggest fan of him.

with Bowen and Ghillurme. I think i would like the Kudus money spent on a number 10 and a top CB. 

Spend the Paqueta money on another attacking midfielder and a CM. 

We would need a left sided winger for Summerville competition more than we would need another right winger wouldnt we? 

Anyhow agree with Trundle, rather buy yoof and the stockpiled lads at the so called big clubs rather than the likes of Harwood-Bellis and Taviner

We seemed to have had a few reports last few days of random youngsters across Europe, so maybe thats what Potters recruitment bloke is thinking. Their was a defender in Denmark and a attacking mid from St Etienne 

violator wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 11:39 Sell Kudus and throw the money at Atalanta for De Ketelaere, he might fancy a switch now the boss has just jacked it in there.

Sell Kudus and throw the money at Atalanta for De Ketelaere, he might fancy a switch now the boss has just jacked it in there.

I'd feel much more comfortable spending our money on fringe players at Champions League Premier League clubs, than spending our money on players from one of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen.

Chelsea after Kudus 

Dewsbury Hall 
Chuwumeka 
Tosin 
Chalobah 
Sanchez 

those 5 offered up as part of any deal. 

I'd take Dewsbury Hall, Chuwumeka and Chalobah for Mo 

I reckon Potters new keeping coaches might want Sanchez to join them, hopefully not he is up with Ramsdale as a calamity. 

Our CB positions are very unclear at this point. I suspect the lot of them are up for sale, including Aguerd. I'm not sure who would take them though, unless we sell them cheap. Maybe Dinos and Aguerd would have interested parties in Europe. I can see one CB arriving this summer and then hope we can see some improvement from the likes of Kilman and Todibo. Casey looks a right off at this point.

ATHammer wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 10:42

Lee Trundle" wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 10:28 No one's sold on the idea on getting all 3 of Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis and KWP, are they?

I think that says a lot.  A few of us might be happy with Ramsdale, a few of us might be happy with Harwood-Bellis, and a few of us might be happy with KWP.

I wouldn't be going anywhere near all 3 of them, I think.

 

My point is that you build world class teams around world class players, Potential or actual. You don't build a world class team by selling world class players and replacing them with average players. None of the Southampton players represent any kind of step forward. They may, in some peoples minds, be an improvement from what we have but others would argue that. 
I can't say that when I saw Southampton last season I thought "wow" about any of the above mentioned, individually or collectively. They looked like a poor team with poor players.

Lee Trundle" wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 10:28 No one's sold on the idea on getting all 3 of Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis and KWP, are they?

I think that says a lot.  A few of us might be happy with Ramsdale, a few of us might be happy with Harwood-Bellis, and a few of us might be happy with KWP.

I wouldn't be going anywhere near all 3 of them, I think.

 

Alan wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 10:35 The Saints fans all seem to speak well of Walker Peters.

Harwood Bellis however:-

"Harwood Bellis will be hoping for a move to a Prem club.
Imo he's been our worst CB which is saying something, and has looked out of his depth in the Premier League.
At best we may get 15m or likely less for him unless we can mug someone off "

"he will never get another england cap "

"The chap that sits next to me has been calling him Harwood Bellend since about the turn of the year. After every mistake he goes Harwoood Bellend again, ding dong! He’s had plenty of opportunities… "

The Saints fans all seem to speak well of Walker Peters.

Harwood Bellis however:-

"Harwood Bellis will be hoping for a move to a Prem club.
Imo he's been our worst CB which is saying something, and has looked out of his depth in the Premier League.
At best we may get 15m or likely less for him unless we can mug someone off "

"he will never get another england cap "

"The chap that sits next to me has been calling him Harwood Bellend since about the turn of the year. After every mistake he goes Harwoood Bellend again, ding dong! He’s had plenty of opportunities… "

Its always been the same with us. There is no joined up thinking whatsoever when it comes to recruitment, and yes that includes managers.

Go back as far as Greenwood passing on Banks because he gave his word to buy Ferguson. We would have had 4 World Cup winners, mind you with Greenwood at the helm we still wouldn't have done much and so it continued. Luck out with a buy or youth and they get sold as soon as the board sees pound signs (all the boards at West Ham have been the same not just the twats in charge at the moment) Never once did we try and build a side to compete at the highest level, nearest was 86 and look what happened after that not a penny spent on new players for the following season and the decline once again sets in. The talent we sold as soon as we could get a decent price and i am sure ive forgotten lots, but Peters, Slater, Lampard, Ferdinand, Defoe, Carrick, Cole, Johnson, Tevez, Payet, Rice etc as I say I'm sure you can add loads more.

The point is no plan at all. Look at the current mismanagement, hiring Potter after the previous disaster Lopetegui, then we look at Ramsdale for £20m, what are they smoking. It doesn't matter whoever they eventually buy we will be lucky to escape relegation and the cycle continues. The latest masterstroke is sell Kudus and replace him with Marcus Tavenier from Bournemouth, really!

No one's sold on the idea on getting all 3 of Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis and KWP, are they?

I think that says a lot.  A few of us might be happy with Ramsdale, a few of us might be happy with Harwood-Bellis, and a few of us might be happy with KWP.

I wouldn't be going anywhere near all 3 of them, I think.

I think Ramsdale is probably decent. But do we need to spend that sort of money on a keeper this season when we are so short in other areas, i think its bad business right now. I'd be minded to stick with Areola and a cheaper up and coming keeper to replace fabbers.

Massive Attack" wrote: ↑04 Jun 2025, 09:06 I think it's classic West Ham of us to be chasing defensive players that heavily contributed towards conceding the most goals (86) in a relegated side that finished rock bottom of the Premier League - Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis and Walker-Peters.

If that's the best we can do to replace the excellent service given to us - Fabianski, Coufal, Cresswell, then I fear even more about the direction the Club is going recruitment wise. Out of the 3 Harwood-Bellis would be the only 1 I'd be interested in at a reasonable price. However having just been badly scarred from his recent experience used to conceding and losing so often, I'd give it a swerve for the time being to see how he gets on next season to regain some much needed confidence.  


 

 

Just had a trawl through a Southampton forum to see what they thought of Ramsdale.
I didn't find one negative comment about him and the general opinion was that he was their best player by a distance and far too good for them.

Two red flags that your scouting is rubbish:

1. Hoping to pick up bargains from relegated clubs in fire sales.

2. Going back to the manager's former club(s) for signings.

Even Donnarumma would not have stopped Southampton from finishing bottom last year.

Ramsdale made second most amount of saves in the league last year. Not surprising. Was joint top for penalties saved.

Areola made 3 errors leading to goals last season. Only two keepers had 0 and Ramsdale was one of them. Thats quite impressive considering how busy he was kept.

Homegrown players are expensive. Moyes wanted the likes of Maguire, Mguinn and Mctominay. Quite a few on here were against it but they would all walk into our team. I think Ramsdale is an improvement on Areola. We dont tend to do well when we try and buy cheap from abroad. Much prefer us focus on some homegrown players to tr and get some identity back.

I think it's classic West Ham of us to be chasing defensive players that heavily contributed towards conceding the most goals (86) in a relegated side that finished rock bottom of the Premier League - Ramsdale, Harwood-Bellis and Walker-Peters.

If that's the best we can do to replace the excellent service given to us - Fabianski, Coufal, Cresswell, then I fear even more about the direction the Club is going recruitment wise. Out of the 3 Harwood-Bellis would be the only 1 I'd be interested in at a reasonable price. However having just been badly scarred from his recent experience used to conceding and losing so often, I'd give it a swerve for the time being to see how he gets on next season to regain some much needed confidence.  

Do better West Ham, as it looks like desperate lazy scouting..

Surely there is better business than Ramsdale. I think Southampton only signed him in a panic as they were left short by Bazunu being out for a year. Where's the scouting? there must be a decent european keeper out there.

I don’t believe there isn’t a keeper in Europe for a third of the price & wages of Ramsdale. Without 3 relegations on their cv
In the style of a Czech (Ludo) or a Pole (Fabianski)