West Ham should finally make a successful club record bid, for Philippe Coutinho
West Ham should make good on their interest in Aston Villa loanee Philippe Coutinho and finally be successful with a major bid.
Much was made of the Hammers’ failure to strengthen at all during the January transfer window, with £50million-plus bids for Leeds pair Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha turned down, and a similar sized approach for Benfica’s Darwin Nunez apparently a no-go.
Irons boss David Moyes seemed very enamoured with the fact that bids of this size were made, despite none of them being successful.
Following the close of the window he reacted to criticism of the club’s board by saying, via talkSPORT: “Overall, all I can say is that the board have been fantastic.
“We probably made three record transfer bids from the club in this January window and, let’s be fair, January is never really a great time.
“I also believe it’s probably been tougher because we’re looking at a much different level of player now and trying to attract some of the top players throughout Europe.
“I have to say there’s been some things said about the board, but the board in this transfer window have been brilliant.”
Put your money where your mouth is
That is all well and good because, yes January can be an imperfect market, and yes, spending for spending’s sake is a careless thing to do.
But his admittedly excellent job in taking the club to the top end of the Premier League again is not going to be worth anything if he runs the squad into the ground doing it.
He, and the recruitment department at the club, should have had a more achievable set of transfer targets for January if they truly intended to strengthen.
If they were throwing out large bids for show, which the likes of Simon Jordan on talkSPORT among many others felt they were, then it is no wonder fans were so frustrated, and star midfielder Declan Rice reportedly felt the club wasn’t matching his ambition (Telegraph).
So with Sport in Spain reporting this week that the Hammers are just one of the teams in the hunt for the big-money Brazilian misfit from Barcelona, it is time that the club made good on one of these hefty bids to bring him to the London Stadium.
The report says: “At Barça they do not rule out that other clubs such as Tottenham, who were already interested in January, or West Ham can enter the fray and are waiting.”
It claims that Aston Villa have the first option to make the loan permanent for €40million, and boss Steven Gerrard wants to make it happen, but it is not yet clear the club can commit to the fee and long-term high wages.
Arsenal are also reportedly interested, but the Hammers have the cash to make it happen after none of those record bids went through.
The 29-year-old is a proven Premier League performer who, despite being surplus to requirements at the Camp Nou, still has the ability and the profile to signify the intent that was lacking in January.
It could even help convince Rice to stay, and if not, the proceeds from his sale would certainly make the ex-Bayern and Liverpool man affordable.
Despite dropping a few places of late, the Hammers are still a step up from the Villains so it could be attractive to the player.
It is time to stop being content with having the club’s name in the conversation, and they could do a lot worse than making Coutinho an offer he can’t refuse.
In other West Ham news, The Athletic has shared some behind the scenes details of how the club is supporting Andriy Yarmolenko over Ukraine.
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook for 24/7 updates on the Hammers plus more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie.