Winter '25/26 Transfer Rumours Thread

[stubbo-admin]

Well seems like with all these international breaks, and us languishing, the rumours of ins and outs are rife.

Chuck anything 'worthy' of discussion on this thread...

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

Incomings:

Pablo Felipe - €21m + €3m (Gil Vicente) | Forward
Valentin 'Taty' Castellanos - €26m + €4m (Lazio) | Forward
Adama Traore - £2m + £1m if stay up (Fulham) | Forward
Axel Disasi - Loan (Chelsea) | Centre Back
Keiber Lamadrid - £150k + £1m option | Attacking Mid

Outgoings:

Nicolas Füllkrug - 6 months loan (AC Milan)
Luis Guilherme - £17m + Sell On % (Sporting Lisbon)
George Earthy - 6 months loan (Bristol City)
Callum Marshall - 6 months loan (Bochum)
Andy Irving - 1.5m (Sparta Prague)
Guido Rodriguez - Undisclosed (Valencia)
Igor Julio - Loan Cancelled (Brighton)
James Ward Prowse - 6 months loan (Burnley)
Lucas Paqueta - £36.5m + Buy Back Clause (Flamengo)

[zebthecat]

If wonder if Kinsky has a special Klaus in his contract?

Oh deary me

[honky cat]

Right old clear out
Have this many ever left in January?

I wouldnt be suprised if kilman goes as well

[onsideman]

Igor confirmed as gone too.

 

 

What was the point in getting him? Apart from fucking up Liverpool from getting Geuhi?

That was funny though.

Ha! Yes. I'd forgotten that

[Iron Duke]

If wonder if Kinsky has a special Klaus in his contract?

[Westham67]

Some news is that we are doing a deal with Spurs, swapping our Danish (I have bacon fat in my gloves) keeper for a former Slavia Prague keeper, Kinsky  (Some monies involved )

[Iron Duke]

Igor confirmed as gone too.

 

 

 

What was the point in getting him? Apart from fucking up Liverpool from getting Geuhi?

That was funny though.

[stubbo-admin]

So our current senior squad looks like (assuming Paqueta and JWP will leave)

GK: Areola, Hermansen, Fabianski
FB: Wan Bissaka, KWP,
CB: Kilman, Mavro, Todibo
#6: Potts, Soucek, Magassa,
#8: 
#10: 
FW: Bowen, Summerville,
ST: Taty, Pablo, Wilson

U21s: Fernandes, Diouf, Kante, Mayers, Scarles.

We're by reckoning currently eight (9!!!) players short of an allowed senior squad, if we don't include JWP and Paqueta.

Surely we can't be left to conclude the season like this.

[onsideman]

JWP can't play against us but Burnley can use him against Palace, Forest, Leeds etc.

This is the point I was making before.

He won't change their season but Burnley mustn't be a threat to us. If they catch us we are 100% down 

[stubbo-admin]

Igor confirmed as gone too.

[Sweep]

JWP can't play against us but Burnley can use him against Palace, Forest, Leeds etc.

[dealcanvey]

Looks like Igor heading back to Brighton..

[Massive Attack]

I thought JWP was back on the bench with the Burton game in mind, and Ingsy had sorted him out with a discount code for Nuno at the hair place. All is forgiven, or not . . .

It seems strange we are strengthening a rival. But we"re finally having a clear out of peripherals and those not fully committed to west ham.


 

Classic shop window exercise. Plus Ward-Prowse begged for it so he could then slap Nuno on the head from behind. Unfortunately Nuno always prefers to stand cross armed on the touchline in a different postcode.

[honky cat]

I thought JWP was back on the bench with the Burton game in mind, and Ingsy had sorted him out with a discount code for Nuno at the hair place. All is forgiven, or not . . .

It seems strange we are strengthening a rival. But we"re finally having a clear out of peripherals and those not fully committed to west ham.




 

[stubbo-admin]

Right now, our bench if trying to satisfy that looks like:

GK - Hermansen
CB - Kilman, Igor
FB - KWP, Diouf
CDM - Potts, Magassa
MF - JWP?
ACM - 
FW -
ST - 
ST - Wilson 


This here is my issue and why I am raising massive questions of the board. There will be games in whats left that are there to be won.  Bournemouth away, Fulham and Forest at home. Liverpool at home, Brighton at home. All those games had points there to be gained if we had some attackers on the bench to impact the game. 

We shithoused the Spurs result, but having that bench above will not get us enough wins to stay up, there is no disputing that in my mind. I don't care about JWP leaving, I care that as you say a think squad appears to be getting stripped for no apparent reason that benefits us for the rest of the season. 

Totally agree with you.

Talk from ExWHU today is that Nuno is not concerned about the CB state of affairs compared to other areas (and IMO you can see why) as he is happy with a first choice of Todibo and Mavro.

Kinsky is an interesting one...if we sign him, will he play him?  He's by reputation MUCH better in the air/at crosses than Areola, but young keepers make mistakes and he's not played much in the PL.

Adama will take the forward slot on the bench.  Means we need a Central MF (Fernandes understudy) as it's unlikely Kante is considered ready to be that, and then either an ACM and a ST, or two ACMs (since Paqueta is off) with one pushing Pablo to the bench, and one on the bench.

My priority would be:

1. #10
2. #8
3. ST or #10
4. Another Winger
5. GK Upgrade
6. CB Upgrade

Given we have:

1. No number 10s in the squad
2. Fernandes is essential and we have no like for like cover
3. If we get a 10, and he replaces Pablo or gets injured, we're back in a position of no option on the bench
4. Assuming we get Adama, an injury (Jarrod or Cry) means we have no one on the bench assuming Adama starts
5. We have two senior keepers of a good age who have performed in the PL.  We'd like someone more aerially dominant...but we at least have the cover.
6. We have 4 senior CBs including a decent first choice pairing on curent form.  We have invetsed heavily in the third choice. And we have youth of varying experience that are somewhat trusted.

[Rossal]

Right now, our bench if trying to satisfy that looks like:

GK - Hermansen
CB - Kilman, Igor
FB - KWP, Diouf
CDM - Potts, Magassa
MF - JWP?
ACM - 
FW -
ST - 
ST - Wilson 


This here is my issue and why I am raising massive questions of the board. There will be games in whats left that are there to be won.  Bournemouth away, Fulham and Forest at home. Liverpool at home, Brighton at home. All those games had points there to be gained if we had some attackers on the bench to impact the game. 

We shithoused the Spurs result, but having that bench above will not get us enough wins to stay up, there is no disputing that in my mind. I don't care about JWP leaving, I care that as you say a think squad appears to be getting stripped for no apparent reason that benefits us for the rest of the season. 

[stubbo-admin]

JWP going Burnley on loan,  anyone left to fill the bench at Stamford Bridge? 

I kind of get it (other than we risk strengthening Burnley).

I mean who does he play in front of?

Not Soucek or Fernandes....not Magassa or Potts.

Not Pablo, or Bowen, or Summerville, or Adama.

He's basically the back-up to Paqueta (as the guy who isn't a 10, isn't an 8...isn't a 6).

BUT...all this talk of 'rebalancing.  Right now it looks like 'gutting'.

There's some heavy lifting to do in the last week of the window to get to a 'rebalanced state'.

I'll judge at the end of the window, but we clearly need at least one #10, maybe two. An extra CB, and ideally a dynamic midfielder that can understudy for Fernandes.

If we assume the first XI is what it is for a moment (but that we'd prefer to have a number 10 instead of Pablo).

That would give us a bench of:

GK (Kinsky or Areola), Kilman or New CB, KWP or Scarles, Potts or Magassa, New no 8, Traore, New #10, Pablo, Wilson 

So essentially: GK, CB, FB, CDM, MF, ACM, FW, ST, ST.

Which is amuch more appropriate bench make up to go into games you need to win.  

Right now, our bench if trying to satisfy that looks like:

GK - Hermansen
CB - Kilman, Igor
FB - KWP, Diouf
CDM - Potts, Magassa
MF - JWP?
ACM - 
FW -
ST - 
ST - Wilson

With Todibo and Mavro showing form, and Kilman a 40m reserve (and one of the areas where we have youth coverage with Mayers, Golambeckis, as well as Igor), you can kind of see why the focus has been elsewhere...since whilst the quality might be suspect with CB....we do have numbers (as we did with shit central mids).

I've no doubt if someone wanted Kilman or Igor we'd get shot pronto, but you can argue we currently have bigger holes to fill.

[Pub Bigot]

I don't really want traore but as unlikely as it sounds, we could end up on a massive fa cup run as well as the relegation battle. But we desperately need a CB in. I'm a bit wary of Dunk in case he's another brighton piss taker like Ferguson. 

 

 

Dunk unlike Ferguson has a body of work behind him of consistency and leadership, the issue is behind him means in his case his best days are behind him at 34. 

Ferguson was a fat shit cսnt whose only good game came against Celtic, which was nice.  

[dealcanvey]

Traore is a no brainer imo.

No fee. Premier league experience. Cover in the wide areas. Can terrorise oppossition on his day. Plus in the likely event of us going down he stays and scares the living daylights out of Ryan Reynolds.

[Rossal]

JWP going Burnley on loan,  anyone left to fill the bench at Stamford Bridge? 

[Massive Attack]

Summerville one wing and Traore on the other. That is bloody quick.

Hopefully this is the end of West Ham managers starting games with 4 cms!

Sounds more like we are trying to fulfill the Olympic Stadium athletics legacy down either side of the running track. 

[honky cat]

I don't really want traore but as unlikely as it sounds, we could end up on a massive fa cup run as well as the relegation battle. But we desperately need a CB in. I'm a bit wary of Dunk in case he's another brighton piss taker like Ferguson. 

[dealcanvey]

Summerville one wing and Traore on the other. That is bloody quick.

Hopefully this is the end of West Ham managers starting games with 4 cms!

[onsideman]

  I would have rather used Earthy. 

 

 

Yeah, because he's exactly the same kind of player...

[Manuel]

Traore serves a purpose. 

He won't score many goals...but he's a chaos creator.  The sort of guy you bring on against tired legs that carries you up the field, and that gives teams something to worry about.

He's what we'd be using Antonio for right now if he'd not had his car crash.  A tool in the arsenal of options.

I'm looking forward to seeing him in a West Ham shirt.   He'll be frustrating at times, as Antonio was, but he also offers pace and power.  And last season he was very creative for Fulham (less so this season).

Let's hope Nuno gets him firing...if he does, he could be very valuable.  He's coming on a free...and he offers more from the bench offensively than anyone else we have or have had this season.  Can play wide or through the middle.

Not going to turn us into prime Real Madrid...but for next to nothing, he's worth having in the squad.



 

Agree, I also think he will be useful, and let's face it this site was outraged at the thought of Maguire and McTominay arriving, among others.

[Massive Attack]

That'll be the thinking, I remain unconvinced but hopefully he has the desired effect to make a real difference. He certainly aint on the levels of Antonio who could actually play at times and weren't just brute force and ignorance to his play. Traore tended to do alright against relegation fodder type teams at best when he did contribute.

I'd have kept Earthy instead as well.