Hammers get Benrahma — eventually!

Even by West Ham standards it was flying by the seat of our tracksuit bottoms. First there was the Mirror breaking the story that Said Benrahma had failed his medical, then David Moyes telling the press that he hadn't failed his medical but he couldn't discuss it. The thought occurred that if Wilshere and Carroll passed West Ham medicals then the main requirement was probably having two legs, so this was all rather worrying.

At some point Jack Sullivan was presumably dispatched to Romford Market to buy a fax machine, but there was still no deal as the 5pm deadline passed. No-one knew if the deal forms had been sent off and after a long period waiting for Godot it was eventually announced at around 7.30pm that Benrahma had signed on loan for a £5m fee, but with an obligation to buy in the summer for another £20m plus add-ons.

It's a strange deal and presumably the result of something that came up in the medical. If there is any doubt about his fitness you have to hope there is some kind of clause that would erase the obligation to-buy. Though having said that, Benrahma does look a tremendously exciting player who according to one of his old coaches,"could nutmeg a mermaid" — which could be very handy should we ever play a team of mermaids. There's a hint of Payet in some of his flicks and the ride should be fun.

The problem is that Benrahma is a goalscoring winger rather than a striker and the suspicion remains that Josh King was more what Moyes and the team required. Is Benrahma a David Sullivan 'gift' to the manager or does Moyes rate him? Sullivan might have baulked at the £17m asking price for King, but he's now purchased a Championship player in a different position for a possible £30m. Only West Ham could have sold a promising winger for £18m then gone shopping for a £30m centre back and come back with a £30m winger. 

For all the creative chaos some progress has been made in the window. Coufal and Dawson provide more depth at the back and Benrahma could become a cult hero. A bloated squad has been reduced through the departures of Wilshere, Hugill, Ajeti, Roberto, Sanchez and co, although Anderson has been loaned out when perhaps he needed nurturing back to form and the sale of Diangana is a major disappointment. The squad is sill relying on Antonio and Haller keeping fit as there are no back-ups and there's also no cover for Rice and Soucek beyond Mark Noble. But WHU do have three new players and the first team has just had two great wins. So let's see what Moyes can do with this lot and pray Antonio keeps fit.