Farewell A Yeti

So Albian Ajeti has been sold to Celtic for £4.5m. Whenever the PA announced his brief substitute appearances it always sounded like "A Yeti" was coming on, which is of significance for Doctor Who fans, though he never showed any Great Intelligence. The club has done well to get £4.5 million for a player who never looked good enough and was yet another example of West Ham's poor recruitment. 

Ajeti never started a league match for the Hammers and only started in three cup games. He failed to score and played 400 minutes without having a shot on target. What a waste of the £8million WHU paid to Basel. He did score on his debut for Switzerland, though that was against Iceland. But why Pellegrini and Husillos sold Chicharito and replaced him with the Swiss striker is still baffling. He looked a downgrade on Jordan Hugill who at least scored 13 times for QPR while on loan last season.

The signings of Hugill and Ajeti are illustrative of the scattergun approach West Ham have had to recruitment. The club has spent £16million on two strikers who have never started a league match. Why sign players we have no faith in?

A better weekend for ex-Hammers and loan stars

West Ham might have lost to Palace but the weekend was better for some of our loanees and ex-players. Grady Diangana scored for top-of-the Championship West Brom in the 4-2 victory against Cardiff; Jordan Hugill (remember him?) scored his sixth goal of the season for QPR in their 4-2 win against Blackburn; and "divine ponytail" Andy Carroll came on as a sub for Newcastle against Man United to unsettle the Mancs' defence in the Toon's 1-0 win. 

Hugill scores!

Those who don't take notice of Championship results might have missed it, but the unthinkable has happened. Jordan Hugill has scored three times in recent weeks. Hugill is on loan at Middlesbrough and scored twice for the Teesiders against Reading, first dispatching a penalty and then scoring a fine second with some chest control and a thumping volley. And on Saturday he scored in an away win at Brentford for Tony Pulis' side. I've always felt a bit sorry for Hugill. He was a panic buy by (presumably) Sullivan and derided by the fans as a sign of the club's lack of ambition, then only given three very brief appearances as a sub by David Moyes. He was shipped out by Pellegrini without being given a chance. But he can clearly do a job at Championship level and just might be worth looking at again as a squad player after his loan season at Boro ends.

Hugill out, Perez in?

Jordan Hugill has left for a season-long loan at Middlesbrough as the Hammers move closer to signing Arsenal's Lucas Perez. At around £5 million Perez is a decent price considering he cost Arsenal £17 million from Deportivo two seasons ago (he was back on loan at Deportivo last season). He wouldn't be a jaw-dropping signing, but Perez would provide competition for Arnautovic and Hernandez. My Gooner pal says that Perez has a great shot when given the service, although he doesn't do a lot outside the box. So we shall see.

Meanwhile Jordan Hugill has to be one of the most bizarre signings in West Ham's history and a costly punt by David Sullivan. It seems Moyes didn't want him and now Pellegrini doesn't either. He's only been given three very short appearances as a sub and for a player who cost £8 million he just hasn't been given a chance. At least Jordan might get on the pitch under Tony Pulis and we'll have an idea whether he's any good or not. It would be nice to see Hugill do well at his hometown club and present the club with a dilemma for next season. So it's one day left of the transfer window and most of West Ham's business done, which is unusual to say the least.

Is this the Daggers which I see before me?

Dagenham 1 WestHam 3
Mystic Matt reports on his trip to Dagenham…

Fraser, Lisa and I head to the Victoria Ground (now officially the Chigwell Construction Stadium) to help #SavetheDaggers — our neighbours Dagenham & Redbridge are in financial difficulties. 

More than 4,500 attend, many of them Hammers fans keen to see the likes of Adrian, Noble, Zabaleta and Collins without having to use binoculars. In fact, we are so close I make sure I shout only positive comments about Patrice Evra, just to be on the safe side. 

This is the first time many Hammers fans have supported the team standing on the terraces for years; sadly, a few Herberts decide to underline how not everything was better in the olden days by singing the vile anti-Semitic Spurs song, along with references to the Pope and the IRA. 

On the pitch, the EastEnders start brightly, with fast one-touch football creating several chances ruined by careless finishing. In contrast, West Ham struggle, managing to get their injury crisis in early with Collins soon limping off. For the Daggers, forward Chike Kandi showed some sweet touches, while Mason Bloomfield was a powerful presence and Dan Sparkes looked bright. Bloomfield headed over, and Kandi shot just wide after a fine run. Masuaki, now described by the West Ham website as a winger, smashed a long-range shot that was tipped round the post, and hit the bar with a miscued cross, on his return from his spitting ban. 

Alfie Lewis, who at 18 is too young to have played much for the under-23s at this stadium, looked as bright as anyone, passing well and making some confident runs. Up front Jordan Hugill, on his first start, tried hard, but gave the ball away too much, and perhaps showed a lack of confidence when he passed to Lewis when he should have shot, although he was denied at close range by an outstanding block.

ONE TREVOR BROOKING

It was rather against the run of play when just before half time an attempted Daggers clearance rebounded to Antonio, and he confidently dinked the ball over the keeper. At half time Sir Trevor Brooking drew the raffle, and some dancing girls battled against a broken sound system, before play restarted with a host of Daggers subs, including former West Ham player Bondz Ngala, who was outfoxed by Antonio who confidently slotted his second. On 59 minutes, there was a humungous goalmouth scramble with West Ham clearing three chances off the line, before Bloomfield finally pulled one back.

Moyes then subbed off Zabaleta, Noble and Cresswell, with youngsters Joe Powell and Ben Johnson going on along with under-18 player Mason Barrett. There was a strange moment when Antonio suddenly ran off the pitch and down the tunnel, emerging a few minutes later. He could and probably should have completed his hat-trick when set up by Tony Scully, another young player who was excellent in the 13 minutes he was given. 

HUGILL GETS OFF THE MARK
The crowd were willing Hugill on, but he was adjudged offside after a one-two with Scully, and it seemed he would never get off the mark for the Hammers. Fortunately, in a Mystic Matt moment, I pronounced he would never score for West Ham, and soon after an excellent run by right-back Johnson allowed him to prove me wrong. 

Two more youngsters made the shortest of debuts, with Tunji Akinola coming on in the 89th minute to replace Evra, who had played centre back throughout, despite his lack of inches. Bernarda Rosa, a teenage Brazilian also appeared, although the Daggers website confused him with Manuel Da Costa. 

SPOTTED DOG

Afterwards we went to the Spotted Dog in Barking, where we went after the last time we played Millwall at Upton Park, when it was the nearest pub the police allowed to open. Fraser refused to sit under a framed England shirt signed by John Terry, and declared himself disappointed that Brooking hadn't played. Moyes will have been pleased to give his squad some playing time, though so many senior players are on international duty or injured that he won't have learned too much. 

The controversial Florida holiday/intensive training regime didn't particularly seem to have benefitted the senior players, but Lewis, especially, Josh Pask, Johnson, Brown and Scully will all have enjoyed the occasion. It was a shame Nathan Holland is still coming back from serious injury, as he's a highly promising winger, but didn't get to show his talents this time. The best under-23 player, the captain Marcus Browne, was also missing, oddly, along with Vashon Neuville, a promising left back, and attacking midfielder Grady Diangana, while midfielder Dan Kemp is injured.

It was worth going along to support the Daggers, and see football close-up at a proper stadium with no running track. The Daggers are struggling after former director Glyn Hopkin resigned last month, a year after his consortium purchased 74 per cent of the club. Food for thought for those of us keen to see the back of our owners.

Give Hugill a chance

Firstly, let's give Jordan Hugill a chance. It's not his fault if the club has messed up more high-profile targets like Slimani and Smolov. No-one has heard of our £8m signing, but he's certainly going to have a better attitude than some of our stars, having come into the game late. He played non-league football before joining Port Vale and then Preston. Indeed, he worked as a barman at the Dickens Inn in Middlesbrough while turning out for Marske United, so if it doesn't work out he might be useful on the concourse beer stands. 

Moyes used to manage Preston so presumably has kept a close eye on their players. At Everton he signed unknown Seamus Coleman from Sligo Rovers for £60,000 so we have to hope he has done his homework here. Looking at Hugill's signing-on video he seems genuinely pleased to be in the Premier League. He's netted ten times for Preston this season but is presumably intended to take the weight off Arnautovic through his strength. Jamie Redknapp for one thinks Hugill will run all day and might surprise a few people. And he'll make team Hugills a lot easier.

The big disappointment has been missing out on a defensive midfielder. Not least Anderlecht's Leander Dendoncker, who sounds like something you might find on the shelves of an Ann Summers store. Shelvey could have offered something different too. But Joao Mario looks a decent loan signing on Tuesday's evidence and gives us a Lanzini alternative. Moyes has been saying for weeks that it's a bad time to buy so mass signings were never likely, although only two in is certainly underwhelming. 

As for departures the club had no choice but to sell Sakho, Yes he's a good player but he so clearly wanted to leave that his presence must have been affecting morale. And do we want to keep a player who doesn't celebrate scoring? It's risky to have sold Ayew to a Premier League rival for £18m (rising to £20m with add-ons), but frankly I never thought we'd get our money back on him. Ayew has scored the odd goal but has never really convinced as either a winger or striker and it's a good price for a squad player. We now have to hope Antonio and Arnautovic return quickly.

Finally the increasingly circus-like atmosphere has seen director of transfers Tony Henry rightly suspended after a leaked email in the Daily Mail showed him allegedly saying that the club doesn't want to sign any more African players, and later telling the Mail this was because they have a "bad attitude" and "cause mayhem". Well no, players have a bad attitude because of their personality not their race. If this is true, then he has to go. Nurse, the screens.