nottsblue wrote:Fonte moves to West Ham for £8m
Would a signing like this for the price really have been worse business than Mangala or Otamendi?
I rate Fonte as a decent defender, but you have to take into account whether he would be able to perform in our system the way he did for Southampton. Ultimately, he is just too slow and a very short term signing. Good for West Ham though.
I do think there's plenty better business to be had than Otamendi and Mangala (I'm not even sure I'd use the term 'business' to describe the latter, it has more of a 'receiving a bumfucking' character about it), but, while both of them were misjudged to a certain degree, at least the ambition was there to sign a player with mid to long-term in mind. I think most would class Demichelis as a good piece of business, but how long did that last? He was about Fonte's age then, needed half a season to adapt to the league/team and was finished another year later. A top team can do this to plug certain squad holes and cover transitional periods, but finding a suitable 33 year old every two years cannot be the long term plan.
Speaking of Southampton, I hope to fuck we don't go for Van Dijk. I have a feeling that he would fail spectacularly here.
Looking at all these names up there, it makes me appreciate even more what a monstrous defender a fit Kompany was in his pomp. Strong, quick, able to carry the ball forward. It's easy to forget sometimes after his recent calamitous injury-ridden period.
nottsblue wrote:Payet gone back to Marseille for £25m + a sell on clause of 25%. Good business by the hammers to get that for a player who wanted away. Didnt seem to be a queue of clubs wanting him
There was only one club he wanted to return to (he even took a substantial pay cut), so any queue would've been irrelevant. West Ham did well enough though, as Payet turns 30 in March.