West Ham United: ‘Incredible’ cash boost on the cards amid Japanese transfer speculation
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes the commercial benefits of signing Japanese players could be “incredible” for West Ham, as they have been at Celtic and Brighton.
West Ham have been linked with a number of Japanese players so far this summer.
Rheinische Post reported on 21 June that Fortuna Dusseldorf’s Ao Tanaka is on David Moyes’ radar. Tanaka, a 24-year-old central midfielder, scored a winning goal for Japan against Spain at the World Cup last year.
The Daily Mail then claimed on 29 June that 6ft 3 Jubilo Iwata striker Keisuke Goto is also being monitored by the Hammers.
ExWHUemployee reported last summer [4 August] that Daichi Kamada, who’s now a free agent after leaving Eintracht Frankfurt, was also a target a year ago.
Celtic have enjoyed great success with a diaspora of East Asian footballers in Glasgow’s East End with the Japanese quartet of Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yuki Kobayashi all shining there.
McAvennie claims that their success at Celtic Park has helped boost the Scottish Premiership club’s finances due to merchandise sales in Japan.
If West Ham want to go down the same route, McAvennie warns that buying the players is one thing but getting them to perform well is another.
Speaking to West Ham Zone, McAvennie said: “Celtic are a machine when it comes to that. The merchandise they’ve sold to Japan is incredible.
“It’s a big thing for them and it’ll be a big for anyone to buy a player from there. But they’ve got to be in the team so people will buy the jerseys.
“It’s a gamble because I don’t know the young striker (Goto) and not everyone is going to hit the ground running with these boys.
“To be fair, they’ve been brilliant at Celtic and the boy at Brighton (Kaoru Mitoma) has been tremendous.
“It’s a gamble because they need to come into the team, score and then the merchandise is sold in Japan.”
In other West Ham news, a £35million twist has emerged in the Hammers’ bid to complete this defensive signing.