West Ham’s Winter Transfer Report

“Mauro Zarate at Auronzo” by Mario Rossi. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Somehow, it is not Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, or City, but rather West Ham that brings the most traffic to the site (after LFC and MUFC). Give the people what they want, I say.

IN:

Doneil Henry

Henry seems like a decent enough pickup. The question on these undisclosed transfers is always the price. He’s not going to be the difference in them winning something and not at this point, but he’s only 21. They’ll need some depth for a deep cup run and they’ll need more depth if they make it to Europe next year.

OUT:

Mauro Zárate, Paul McCallum, Ricardo Vaz Tê, Sean Maguire, Jamie Harney, Danny Whitehead, Blair Turgott, and Kieran Sadlier.

Zárate is one that makes no sense to me. They just bought him in May 2014. He’s 27. He was once a €20 million striker, with a €60 million buy-out clause.  Now he’s on loan to another EPL side? I guess it makes some sense as he’s 5th out of 5 in scoring from their forwards. What if they have a couple injuries though? At that point, seems like FA Cup is out of the question. I suppose they could always recall him from his loan and QPR isn’t exactly a rival for a European spot, so maybe it makes sense. I wonder if it really has more to do with balancing the books.

 

As I mentioned, depth could end up being an issue. If injuries don’t come into play, uou would think West Ham, like Liverpool, have a decent shot at the FA Cup. LFC may be distracted by the Europa League. MUFC may be distracted by trying to finish 3rd or 4th. Likewise, Arsenal will be fighting for those 3rd and 4th EPL spots. West Ham are comfortable in 8th in the EPL, and outside of a Cup victory, probably have no realistic chance at a European spot (though the wheels could come off for some of the teams in front of them).

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