Hammers opt for Mads man in goal

West Ham's offer of £18 million has been accepted by Leicester City for goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. The club were said to be about to sign John Victor from Botafogo, though clearly you don't get many Victors at West Ham. The Hammers are opting for a few years of living Danishly with Lucasz Fabianski gone and Hermansen always appeared to be Potter's first choice. He will surely challenge and possibly replace Alphonse Areola. 

Hermansen certainly had a fine game when Leicester beat West Ham 3-1 in Ruud Van Nistelrooy's first game in charge, making great saves from Bowen and Kudus (but then every new signing has invariably done well against us). Mads got plenty of practice with Leicester as they went down with a whimper, but still managed to look a decent keeper. He also played in their Championship winning side. At 25 he's a good age for a goalkeeper and is thought to be better with his feet than the Fonz. 

Meanwhile Michail Antonio has been released, which always seemed inevitable. He was a fading force even before his terrible car crash and it seems unlikely he'll play at the top level again, though it would be nice to see him retained at the club in some other role. Still, we'll always have those carpet-stroking goal celebrations. Antonio at his best was at times unplayable and has been at West Ham since the Bilic season at Upton Park when we finished seventh. He played with the enthusiasm of a man who'd come up from non-league football and really blossomed as a converted striker under David Moyes. No-one ever knew quite what he'd do next, including both fans and defenders. Micky will be missed.

Is signing Wilson awfully wise?

So the free transfer of Callum Wilson has finally gone through. A lot of people seem to be going into social media meltdown over this. Yes we still need a young striker unless Callum Marshall makes the PL grade, but on a one-year-deal and with a contract that is mainly based on pay-as-you-play there's not too much to lose.

The downside is that signing an injury-prone 33-year-old striker who only started two games last season sounds unambitious and like the old West Ham, just content to stay up. Is he the next Danny Ings? There's also the perception that Wilson might be a David Sullivan signing, though Potter seems happy to talk up the worth of Callum.

In the main West Ham should be buying younger players, but if Potter wanted Wilson then he's a proven long-term Premier League goalscorer, a striker who scores every three games, with 132 goals spread over ten seasons at Coventry, Bournemouth and Newcastle (and he'd inevitably score against the Irons). Potter mentioned Danny Welbeck, now 34, whom he took to Brighton as a similarly derided signing and managed to largely keep clear of injury and rejuvenate his career. 

Three seasons ago at Newcastle Wilson scored 18 goals and that was while competing with Isak. If he can stay fit he'll be a good option to bring off the bench, though that if is a very big if at the moment. But goalscoring is the hardest part of the game and if Wilson does stay in one piece then Potter's gamble will have been worthwhile.

The other positive is that West Ham have now had a Pike, Walker, Jones and Wilson on the books. To complete the Dad's Army set all we need is Godfrey, Fraser and Mainwaring. Don't panic!

LUCAS PAQUETA IS INNOCENT, OK?

So finally after two years we have a verdict and Lucas Paqueta is innocent. Shame no-one placed a wager on it. There is still the threat of sanctions over two charges of not co-operating with the investigation, which the player denied but was found guilty of. Tnough the big charge is unproven. Most of the evidence was circumstantial and if there was major corruption going on then surely the bets coming from Paqueta Island would have been for more than sums ranging from £7 to £400? 

Perhaps the locals knew Paqueta was a bit of a hothead and always likely to get booked in certain matches against rough opponents with lenient refs. Rather like the way we can predict when fellow season-ticket holder the Vicar's Son will lapse into ungodly language aimed at the referee (usually about the 12th minute against teams managed by Eddie Howe).

It's cost West Ham and Lucas a lot. Paqueta's form has clearly been affected for the last two seasons with the threat of a lifetime ban hanging over him. Let's remember that West Ham had just won a trophy when this all exploded. Paqueta had a move to Manchester City for £85m lined up and it was said the Irons were after Cole Palmer as a £40m replacement, which wouldn't have been too bad. The FA's tardiness in releasing the verdict has also been very effective at sabotaging West Ham's planning for the transfer window. West Ham must surely have a case for compensation. 

Meanwhile will Paqueta stay or go? It might be understandable if he wanted a new start in a different country. Encouragingly he's thanked God ("if he's found God it must have been one hell of a pass"), West Ham and the fans. That sounds like he wants to stay. If we could get the Paqueta back of two years ago then it could transform WHU's season.

Three Lionesses on my shirt

Well, certainly enjoyed watching England win the Euros round at fellow West Ham fans Matt and Lisa's gaff in Holloway. Watching England has been rather like watching West Ham in that the team usually go a goal down and do things the hard way, but unlike with the Irons England's subs always seem to work. 

Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo, Hannah Hampton and Jess Carter at the back were the standout players for me while Lucy Bronze playing with a fractured tibia brought back memories of Stuart Pearce. There was a West Ham link too with sub goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse being a former Hammer. 

Both goals and the winning penalty were scored by Arsenal players so expect the Gunners to regularly attract up to 60,000 fans for women's games next season. The West Ham women's team is really missing out on the WSL boom because they are not allowed to play at the London Stadium under the terms of the rental lease. Not a lot of fans from London or deepest Essex want to trek to Dagenham to see West Ham play. Surely something could be worked out with new landlords GLA Holding Limited and subsidiary company London Stadium LLP, which are ultimately responsible to the Mayor of London?  West Ham are the only one of 12 WSL clubs not have played a game at their men's stadium last season.

To be positive the Daily Mail reports that West Ham have been in touch with the stadium landlords about staging at least some games at the London Stadium but are currently being put off by the high price being quoted. Talks are set to resume when the WSL fixtures are published in August.

West Ham women playing at the London Stadium would be beneficial to both landlord and tenant. Perhaps a profit-sharing agreement could be put in place? It's time West Ham took the women's game more seriously as clubs like Arsenal are surging ahead.

Walker-Peters is a decent squad signing

Does Walker-Peters count as two signings? West Ham have hijacked Kyle Walker-Peters' move to Besiktas and on a free transfer he's a good bit of business for basically a reserve right-back now Coufal has left. He'll be a decent addition to the squad particularly as Wan-Bissaka and Diouf could be off to the Africa Cup of Nations in December. 

Walker-Peters has plenty of experience with ten games for Spurs and 169 games for Southampton. Don't be fooled by Southampton being rubbish last season, he's played in plenty of seasons where the Saints have prospered in the Ralph Hassenhuttl years. The 28-year-old is also two-footed and can play on the left as well, so is a handy squad player with an England Under-20 pedigree and two full caps. Not every signing has to be worldbeater.

What we really need now is midfield and forward signings, though much will depend on the Paqueta verdict. The latest rumour is a Jack Grealish loan, though we'd have to sign the Grealish sniper too for him to be effective. Another rumour is Bournemouth's Tavernier coming to the London Stadium. The next few weeks should be interesting.

We've signed a player!

For a moment it felt like we’d all spent too long in the sun. But after a summer of inaction it turned out the rumours were true and West Ham really have signed a player. Left back El Hadji Malick Diouf has signed from Slavia Prague for £19 million plus add-ons. The Czech side won the league last season and it’s hopefully a lucky omen that Slavia Prague’s home ground is the Eden Stadium where West Ham won the Europa Conference League in 2023.

Last season Diouf scored seven goals from his wing-back position for Slavia and provided three assists. He also impressed keeping Arsenal’s Saka quiet while playing for Senegal in their recent 3-1 friendly win over England. At 20 he is a good age and could be one El of a player. Diouf’s also shown a lot of character to leave home at a young age, first for Tromso in Norway and then Slavia Prague.

This is a glimpse of the side Potter wants, with Wan-Bissaka and Diouf as forward-thinking wing-backs with three defenders in the middle. The 30-year old Emerson will surely be moved on with Ollie Scarles as the main back-up on the left. What that system will need though is a couple of dynamic midfielders to make it work and another striker to compete with Fullkrug. But this at least feels like progress after the sale of Kudus.

Kudus goes for £55 million

So Mohammed Kudus has gone to Spurs for £55 million. The club could surely have got more money if WHU had waited until deadline day, but thanks to financial fair play fears we needed money in now to make new signings. Chelsea had lost interest, the player wanted to leave and sadly Spurs was the only offer on the table.

There are many standout moments from Kudus's fine first season: his first league goal against Newcastle, a great volley at Brentford, those two crosses that won the game late on at Burnley, a well-taken goal against Arsenal in the League Cup, that fantastic run from the halfway line to score against Freiberg and a superb overhead kick away to Man City.

But let's be clear Kudus had a poor season last time round. That petulant sending off at Spurs and his five-game ban indicated something was wrong. A player of his ability should have scored more than five goals and at times he looked selfish, dribbling and losing possession when he should have played the simple ball. Yes, he had a great game in the win at Arsenal for example, but we didn't see enough of that. Without European football it looked like he was dreaming of another club. 

The other problem is that successive managers never found Mo's best position. If it was on the right wing then that is where Jarrod Bowen plays. And once the club had Bowen, Kudus, Fullkrug and Summerville on the books it was never clear how all four could play together without leaving a severely weakened midfield.

It's never good to see a player of undoubted ability go to Spurs, even if we have made a £17 million profit on Mo, who was signed for £38 million. But Potter desperately needs some powerful and fast midfielders and defensive and attacking reinforcements. The quality of his signings will decide whether this was a good deal or not. But at least with some money freed up we might now see some action.