If we can believe any of the rumours knocking around at the moment, it would appear that we are in for / have signed / expect to sign / are dreaming about signing no less than three of the Inter Milan squad - Mancini, Jimenez and Balotteli. To be honest, things seem to have gone a little quiet on the Mancini front so, perhaps, journalists were getting their wires crossed; but who knows?
The big question is, will it be good news for West Ham if we forge a link with Inter and The Special One. Presumably, the connection goes back to Jose's time at Chelsea, where Zola was a god on a par even with the self anointed plastic Zeus. Having friends in high places is never a bad idea but Jose is not the sort of guy you would trust to share a holiday villa with your wife is he? You have the feeling that despite the smiles, somebody is being shafted. Are we being stitched up here?
The initial rumours about Balotteli suggested he was a player very highly thought of in Milan. Now it appears that Jose has "lost patience" with him and regards him as "lazy". Now, if you would back anybody to motivate a young player, it would be Jose, so if this boy's ego is resistant to the motivational charms of Mourinho, then you have to wonder if he is somebody you would want in your dressing room. Clough didn't make many mistakes with players and I put Jose in the same league. It may be that Balotteli is toxic.
In the case of Mancini, the question, with all due respect, is why he would join West Ham. We have been scorched once before by a deal that looked too good to be true. Never mind the Tevez compensation, Mascherano arrived with an attitude and "played" without any heart until he had crossed the bridge to Liverpool, where suddenly he looked the dog's danglers again. Who wants to be a stepping stone?
Jimenez, meanwhile, has been indifferent since moving to Inter. He is surplus to requirements in Milan and Jose is obviously happy to offload him. Still, an ex Inter player sounds good doesn't it, until you remember how poorly Italian club sides are now performing in Europe. The days when Italian football lorded it are now over and their game is in a mini crisis - with falling gates and corruption.
So, as exciting as the rumours sound, I hope Zola is going in to this with his eyes open. I am not sure I want West Ham to be Inter's finishing school; I am absolutely certain that I don't want us to become Jose's dumping ground!
13 comments:
Perhaps we're going back to the situation that Curbs faced; because of our situation only being able to sign a certain type of player. In his case of course it was overpriced lads with serious injury issues, perhaps Zola will be limited to loan deals for under-achievers looking to re-launch their careers.
The most pertinent phrase in your article may well be "stepping stone". I am very sceptical as to whether there will be very much money for transfers, unless there actually is a buyer already contributing in the background, so how exactly are CB holdings going to increase the club's value?
Loan deals for quality players who have perhaps lost their way could be one with a percentage of any transfer fee coming to us?
Unattractive though that may be, it could be preferable to the alternatives. I thought we were only allowed two loanees, does anyone know whether that's correct?
Can't be Marty. We had Di Michelli, Lopez, Lastpickeva and Ilunga last season.
Weren't Lastuvka and Lopez signed on short term deals?
No. Lastpickeva was a loan with an option to buy, and we declined to meet the valuation. Lopez was announced as a loan when he came in with Ilunga.
It's very difficult to take any of your posts seriously, so consistantly misinformed are you with your your facts. It's very tiresome seeing you come up on Newsnow, with what is tantamount to becoming a recognised joke between many readers who inadvertantly click on you juvenile blog. Zola and Mourhino were never together at Chelsea and your reference to Mascherano's very few games at Upton Park suggest you never ever saw him play for the club. But then again, Mourhino has a list as long as my arm on the players who he has mismanaged or fallen out with such is the ego the man has of his own self importance. Bit like yours really. If you have nothing of any real sense to say why not just keep quiet? You're up there with Tribal Football for posting tripe.
Derrr 1059, did I say they were ever at the club together? I said the link was probably forged because of the Chelsea connections. Idiot.
I agree with 10:59 that your blog is tiresome. Your rival-fan baiting almost amounts to incitement of hatred, you seem to post frequently and at regular times even though you have nothing new to say, you spam the newsnow page with posts that have nothing to do with WHU, and most of your posts wouldn't make good topics in forums, let alone blog posts. I honestly worry about what other fans think of us because you are such an idiotic wind-up merchant. No, it's not banter, it's being a w****r. There is a difference. Go to UP and visit some pubs before the game if you are still confused between the two.
You are obviously obsessed with WHU but have few new ideas and don't appear to ever even go to watch our team live, which leads me to the conclusion that you are the worst type of armchair fan, or perhaps just one of the first of a new breed of 'office chair fans ©' who sits in front of a computer instead of a telly? (could also be a 'laptop fan ©' - you heard it here first). You write fairly articulately so I don't think you are a stupid person. However, you do appear to be an attention seeker who isn't content to be part of an existing online community but insists on creating their own - do you have problems with relating to people and making friends in real life too? who is your market? what gap are you filling? I used to think the cmonyuirons (or however its pathetically mis-spelt) was the epitome of poor blogs out there, until yours started out. wasn't killing the westhamfans.org message board enough that now you have to kill newsnow too?
Usually I deliberately do not click your blog because i do not want to give you the hits. I had been thinking along the 'ignore him and he'll go away' line of thought.
but I DID click this story intentionally because I had the same thought when I saw we'd been linked with Super Mario (after weeks of speculation about Jimi and Mancini). If you posted more stories like this - good, well-written opinion on current events - you wouldn't be so hated and your blog wouldn't be such a joke. Stop posting so often, wait until you have a genuinely good idea before posting, then I will click your headlines.
To be honest, in our current situation (i.e. no money), I would not mind if we became Inter's finishing school. It would be good to get a steady supply of talented young players on low wage. Under curbs, we became a national dumping ground, and managed to pay ridiculously high wages and transfer fees for the privilege. Signing promising youngsters is at least part of Zola/Clarke project, which I still firmly believe in.
COYI
The thing is that it would seem that as part of Mourhino's tactics was to buy up certain players so that none of his major rivals could have them, thus strengthening his club's position, just look at SWP who was once set to go to Arsenal, Scott Parker who was once set to go to Man Utd, Maniche who again was set to go to Man Utd, Obe wan Kenobi who again was set for the Mancs and Steve Sidwell who was at the time being watched by the other top four clubs and all those players spent most of their rent boy's career's bench warming and once these players had lost their touch a bit through lack of first team football and fallen out with "The Special One", then they would be moved on to lesser clubs who would be less of a threat.
Balotelli is only 18 so perhaps a little premature to brand him lazy. Italian footie is frequently played in an odd 'non atmosphere' - massive stadium, less than half full and with the fans miles from the pitch. Perhaps the lad needs to feel a part of something, regular football can do wonders. Not sure about Jiminez but Mancini is class and could be the creative spark we need?
It would very naive indeed to think that any foreign player that crosses the borders of our green and pleasant land to play for a side in The Premier League outside of the top four come to play for that side. I mean, did Berbatov come over to play for Spurs? Did Valencia have any desires to play for Wigan Athletic? Did Robinho really want to play for City? And does anybody think that Behrami, Ilunga or even Tevez and Mascherano came because they always wanted to play for the mighty West Ham United? Well I think that you will find that the answer to all four questions would be a big fat NO! They all came over because they wanted to play in The Premier League, the best league in the world and all have desires to progress and hopefully move onto one of the big boys and then after a few years, maybe move onto Spain perhaps, so just like any other club outside of the top four as far as foreigners who are worth their weight are concerned, we are a stepping stone, but it's up to us to get our shit together and keep it together in order to keep these players interested in us, end of.
cant see us getting mancini unfortunatly,and ballotelli is a very big risk imo,he is talented but watched him in u21s and he is a lazy turd
1207, which orgster are you?
You enjoyed this article, others enjoy the mickey take articles. You don't pay any money to visit so you are free to make your choice. It is a blog site, people visit for a variety of reasons. The endorsement from Tom is genuine. What right have you to say you are right and he is wrong? Take from the blog what you want; or take nothing. But don't presume to judge for others, that is not your right.
Meanwhile, look at how stupid some people are. The Owen article is a joke and a dig at Owen more than anybody else. The Beano style Grrrrr responses are so ridiculous!
the west ham-inter link..."probably" due to chelsea connections...
you make no mention of steve clarke...who would be the obvious link, as he was taken under jose's wing and nurtured into an assistant manager, and a fantastic one at that
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