West Ham’s Transfer Roundup

First thing’s first, on Saturday, West Ham completed the signing of Canadian defender Doneil Henry from Apollon Limassol. Despite signing the 6ft 2in centre back from the Cypriot outfit, he’s never made an appearance for them, with Apollon deciding to loan him straight back out to Toronto FC; where they signed him from. Henry has already made an impressive 14 appearances for Canada’s national squad, going hand in hand with the Canadian U20 Player of the Year he was awarded in 2012. So who recommend Henry to Sam Allardyce? Well, that would be former Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen, who played under Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers, so his opinion would be valued by Big Sam. Upon Nelsen’s recommendation Allardyce invited the young Canadian over to Chadwell Heath for a short training spell in November 2013, finally getting his man in January 2015 means Henry’s capabilities would’ve been extensively researched and with Henry going straight into the first team (none of that development squad lark) we could see him play a part in the remainder of the season. Finally, both his former clubs will receive a fee that is thought to be around the £1.5 million mark.

For the second consecutive transfer window Islam Slimani has been rumoured with a move away from Sporting Lisbon and for the second consecutive transfer window West Ham look to be front runners in the chase for the Algerian striker. In mid-December, Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola claimed that West Ham representatives flew over to Lisbon for a new round of talks regarding Slimani, who is rated by Sporting at €10 million. Slimani is currently in a rich vein of form, netting seven goals in Portugal’s top flight, two in this seasons Champions League and two in the 2014 World Cup. But, one problem… he’s been called up to Algeria’s 2015 African Cup of Nations squad – with Kouyaté and Sakho also playing over there for the majority of January would another African player be a wise move?

His Algerian strike partner Ishak Belfodil is also linked with West Ham, however his scoring record is less than impressive. Or good for that matter. Like Slimani, Belfodil has been linked to West Ham for quite a while but West Ham chiefs might want to skip any potential deals for him – the Parma striker has failed to score this season in 11 games… or get any assists… making only two key passes and recording four shots this entire season West Ham may well want to avoid him. No offence, Ishak.

Japanese publications ZONE magazine and Yahoo! Japan report that Mainz striker Shinji Okazaki has caught the eye of English clubs West Ham and West Brom with German tabloid Bild claiming West Ham have sent scouts to the Coface Arena to watch the “Japanese Bomber” who has netted an impressive eight goals this season. However the dreaded continent cup again comes into play in Okazaki’s case, this time the 2015 Asian Cup which ends on the 31st of January meaning any potential deal is in jeopardy due to the difficulty of getting a deal in place whilst the player in question is over in Australia. Most likely not happening.

In mid-December The Telegraph reputed that West Ham were due to cut all ties with Ravel Morrison, after Cardiff City themselves cut his largely unimpressive loan deal short, by terminating his contract. So far, nothing has happened and Ravel still remains on the books at a Upton Park but Hammers fans will remember that left back Razvan Rat left the club under the cloud of mutual consent last January but the West Ham boardroom very much see Morrison as part of the club’s future, even if his place in the squad is becoming increasingly under threat. Sam Allardyce has hinted that Morrison may be sold during the January transfer window and this’ll naturally alert a few clubs. Oh, and rumours flew around Twitter on Friday night that he was heading to Barnsley but these are Twitter rumours and there’s probably a bigger chance Carlos Tevez will return to West Ham.

Talking about Carlos Tevez returning to West Ham seems to spring up every single transfer window since about 2008 and it has reared it’s head once again. The Daily Mail, amongst others, are claiming the Argentinian is about to reject a new contract at Juventus and even more sensationally they’re claiming he could move to West Ham either for their last ever season at Upton Park or their first at the Olympic Stadium. As much as we’d all like to see him return, I just can’t see it.

It’s very much a case of “will he or won’t he?” in regards to Winston Reid. It’s known that he’s turned down a few contract offers with us and it’s also known his contract runs out in the summer, meaning if he doesn’t sign by the 31st of this month he will be free to go in the summer for absolutely nothing, so you can see why Sullivan and co. are so eager for Reid to pen a new deal, especially with Arsenal circling like vultures. Luckily, though, it’s thought that new signing Doneil Henry isn’t a direct replacement for Winston – indicating the club still hold out hope that Reid will indeed sign up.