Stop the rot | One summer signing starts a revolution. Now, more than last week, after ‘that’ dreadful Brentford performance, West Ham need to tear up their midfield and start again. The good news is that there are reinforcements coming over the hill, cavalry-like, in June anyway. One simple addition to the squad can make a huge difference to the way the Hammers perform next season. Pace, mobility, skill – all went AWOL on Saturday and yet -fear not, Hammers fans, the remedy is at hand.
Forget Soler, Alvarez, Soucek, Rodriguez.
Consider instead – Potts, Earthy, Banzuzi, Orford, Irving and (sigh)Ward-Prowse: 5 of those will be at the club in the summer anyway. ONE new signing revolutionises the middle of the pitch. Who would you rather pay good money to watch? By no means perfect, but with limited funds, £15 million will get the Ezechiel Banzuzi deal done – remember the standard.co.uk claimed £12.7million was all that was required to prise the then 19 year old from OH Leuvun:
” Banzuzi, who has been capped by the Netherlands at youth level, has been tipped for a bright future. West Ham want to bring him in this month and have been in regular dialogue with Leuven. Banzuzi is into the final 18 months of his contract in Belgian, with Leuven willing to let him go for the right price.”
One signing, early in in the Summer, of an attacking midfielder whose club is resigned to losing him already, can transform West Ham’s midfield into an exciting, pacy, edgy department with, yes, many players learning on the job. I ask again, which would you rather pay money to see next season? The reason the atmosphere is so bad and Hammers fans are so depressed is that the football is utter dross, epitomised by the cart-horse quartet of now. Time to bring in some creativity, youth, pace, fire and passion for the shirt.
Alvarez or Soucek – take your pick, I don’t want to argue the case for either – will fund the Banzuzi acquisition and some.
And which ‘midfield variant’ will turn out the better performances? Time to wave goodbye to a terrible midfield that has now failed under three successive head coaches. Of course that still means the prospect of thirteen more games to endure and nine or ten points to pick up somehow to safeguard Premier League football this season. But that’s why Potter is paid the big bucks. Just rip it up and start again come 1 June.
