View: Stubborn selling club deny West Ham unnecessary signing of Thiaw
West Ham were hoping that the January transfer window would wield at least two new signings but they were left disappointed as no new face arrived at the London Stadium.
One of the many defenders the Hammers were chasing was FC Schalke’s Malick Thiaw [Sport1] who is keen to test himself away from the club he has played for his entire career.
The Bundesliga 2 club’s sporting director Rouven Schroder has hidden nothing in an interview with WAZ saying Thiaw was, seemingly, never for sale.
“We had a clear position. The player belongs to us and has a contract,” Schroder said. “Malick is a very important building block for us.”
AC Milan, Everton and Napoli were also left disappointed as the 20-year-old stayed put in the January transfer window.
West Ham absolutely made the right decision not to pursue Thiaw much further given the stubborn stance of Schroder and the club.
Had they managed to sign the German youth international last month, they would have only been paying way over his valuation and for someone who would have ultimately been a backup, it wasn’t worth it.
Their pursuit of a centre-half, which took up a large portion of their window, was probably misguided anyway and it became a blessing to miss out on Thiaw.
Craig Dawson and Issa Diop have been the two backups this season for David Moyes but they were thrust into the limelight when Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma picked up injuries.
The latter, though, is now back to fitness and Ogbonna is coming along nicely so there is no longer the panic of having few options in that area.
There is more than enough in defence to make it to the end of the season without putting square pegs in round holes or using inexperienced youth players in big games.
In other West Ham news, a loan-to-buy deal was agreed for this player in the dying moments of deadline day.