Monday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

Liverpool's England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, is Real Madrid's favourite to reinforce their right-back position. (AS - in Spanish)

Newcastle United have placed Cameroon winger Bryan Mbeumo on their wanted list, with Brentford having set a price tag of about £50m for the 25-year-old. (Football Insider)

Arsenal are lining up West Ham's Ghana winger Mohammed Kudus, 24, as a £90m replacement for 29-year-old Belgium forward Leandro Trossard, who has been targeted by Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad. (Mirror)

Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, does not plan to follow Sporting manager Ruben Amorim in leaving the Lisbon club to join Manchester United. Amorim will become the new manager of the Old Trafford club on 11 November. (Record - in Portuguese)

Reims' Ivory Coast forward Oumar Diakite, 20, will be the top target for Crystal Palace if contract talks stall with their 27-year-old French striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. (Sun)

Manchester United and Chelsea have joined Tottenham in the race to sign Denmark left-back Patrick Dorgu, 20, from Lecce. (Football Insider)

English midfielder Lewis O'Brien, 26, looks set to make a permanent £7m move to Los Angeles FC when his loan from Nottingham Forest ends in January. (Sun)

West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui is under increasing pressure of an early exit after being told by the club that results must improve. (Times - subscription required)

Paris St-Germain and Randal Kolo Muani are open to a loan move in January, with an option to buy, and some Premier League clubs have already made requests to sign the France forward, 25. (Sky Sport Germany)

Barcelona are monitoring Rafael Leao's situation at AC Milan in case the Portugal winger, 25, becomes available. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)

Real Madrid have begun to question Vinicius Jr's commitment to the club and are concerned he would consider leaving, with Al-Hilal interested in signing the Brazil forward, 24. (Sport - in Spanish)

Chelsea and Paris St-Germain are also interested in Vinicius Jr and Real Madrid officials will meet his representatives in a few weeks to discuss his future. (Marca - in Spanish)

Santos are in talks over bringing Neymar back to the club when his contract with Al-Hilal expires next summer and the Brazil forward, 32, interrupted Sunday's post-match news conference with a video call after they moved to the brink of promotion back to Brazil's top flight. (AS - in Spanish)

Lazio are one of the clubs interested in signing James Rodriguez if the Colombia winger, 33, brings his short stint with Rayo Vallecano to an end. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)




The Athletic

West Ham lack identity. Will Julen Lopetegui be given time to turn things around?

By Roshane Thomas

It was a walk of shame that reflected West Ham United’s struggles.

Edson Alvarez was unaware of where the tunnel was as he mistakenly wandered towards the corner flag following his dismissal at the City Ground, and the home fans, thriving on schadenfreude, were more than happy to alert the midfielder of his mistake.

After Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest, West Ham are also clearly heading in the wrong direction under head coach Julen Lopetegui.

A smattering of Forest supporters chorused, “You’re getting sacked in the morning” at the Spaniard who, for now at least, retains full support from the board.

This season, Lopetegui has issued more apologies than wins. After 10 league games, yielding just 11 points, West Ham lack identity and have regressed; the constant changes in formation and personnel contributing to their inconsistency, while captain Jarrod Bowen looks a shadow of his old self.

Lopetegui wants fans to reserve judgement until May, but his chances of remaining at the helm until then seem fanciful. Supporters en route to Nottingham were more intent on vetoing candidates to replace Lopetegui than endorsing him.

Majority shareholder David Sullivan tends to wait until November/December before sacking a manager midway through a season. Of the eight managers he has hired since January 2010, Avram Grant, Slaven Bilic and Manuel Pellegrini are the only ones to be jettisoned midway through their contracts.

Lopetegui, who was announced as David Moyes’ successor in May, signed a two-year deal with the club. Not renewing Moyes’ contract was the correct decision. After his four-and-a-half-year spell as manager, West Ham needed a change, but Lopetegui’s track record did not suggest he would be the right fit as he does not play an attractive style of football.

Tim Steidten, the technical director, should also be scrutinised for a summer recruitment of nine players for over £130million ($168m at the current exchange rate) of which only Maximilian Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have looked solid. Luis Guilherme, the £25million ($32.4m) addition from Brazilian side Palmeiras, was an unused substitute again, while Carlos Soler, the loanee from Paris Saint-Germain, was ineffective against Forest. A return date for the injured Niclas Fullkrug is unclear and midfielder Guido Rodriguez has struggled to make an impact.

Then there are players Lopetegui inherited, like Alvarez, who was warned by Moyes in April about his indiscipline. The midfielder was initially booked for tugging defender Murillo’s shirt and was then shown a second yellow card for a mistimed tackle on Anthony Elanga just before the break for West Ham’s third dismissal of the season.

Lopetegui did not look at Alvarez as the Mexico international walked past him after his sending-off. Alvarez’s team-mates Guilherme, Aaron Cresswell and Danny Ings also did not acknowledge him when they returned to the substitutes’ bench from their warm-ups.

Forest were everything the visitors aspire to be. They have a potent striker in Chris Woods, whose opening goal against the Hammers was his eighth league goal of this campaign, a settled midfield pairing of Ryan Yates and Nicolas Dominguez, pace on the flanks in Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi and a solid defence, which has kept four clean sheets this season, and crucially they are ensconced in the upper echelons of the table.

The home side would have subjected Lopetegui’s side to further misery but for great goalkeeping from Lukasz Fabianski late on.

“We did not deserve to win or draw the match,” Lopetegui said afterwards. “He (Alvarez) knows he needs to improve his decision making but I am the coach, I am responsible for all of them. We have to use this bad moment to push us up and forward and face the next challenge. We have to be better and more consistent.”

Lopetegui had also asked the players to unite after games against Chelsea, Liverpool, Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur. But despite his best efforts to provoke a reaction, the defeat to Forest was sealed long before Hudson-Odoi’s goal past the hour mark which put the hosts 2-0 ahead. Ola Aina’s audacious finish only confirmed the inevitable.

“It’s just an example of us not managing the game in the right way, and I think we’ve seen that on other occasions this season as well,” Fabianski told West Ham’s website. “It’s really disappointing, because we knew coming here that it was going to be a tough match and we weren’t able to keep that control.”

West Ham ended the game with a dysfunctional attack, an extraordinary combination of Michail Antonio on the left and Lucas Paqueta in a roaming false-nine role, which culminated in a listless attacking display.

Lopetegui has flattered to deceive. Failure to produce a convincing performance at home against Everton next Saturday could be the last straw.



Sport Witness

Agent ‘signals’ West Ham €30m offer – Intermediary said to be working for Hammers

By Naveen Ullal

West Ham United have included Botafogo’s Igor Jesus in their transfer agenda for the winter market.

The Brazil international returned to his country when Botafogo signed him for free earlier this year, after his deal at Shabab Al-Ahli expired. He has managed eight goals and three assists from 22 matches so far.

His ‘rapid success’ has seen him attract the attention of other clubs, including West Ham.

That’s according to Globo Esporte, who provide the latest on the Hammers efforts to try and sign the striker.

The Premier League side signed Niclas Füllkrug from Borussia Dortmund in the summer window. The German, who initially struggled with injuries, has seen his game time being limited this season. West Ham are looking at 23-year-old to strengthen their attack in January.

In ‘recent days’, an intermediary working on behalf of the London club approached Botafogo owner John Textor to ‘signal’ West Ham wanting to offer £30m for Jesus.

Botafogo were impressed with these figures suggested by the agent but will only respond when Julen Lopetegui’s side table an official proposal.

Globo add Textor will discuss a potential deal for Jesus at the end of this season. It’s to be noted the 2024 Brazilian football season will be concluded next month. This allows West Ham to negotiate a deal during the next window.
 

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