Deals agreed for Maguire and Ward-Prowse

It looks like three signings are on the way now £30m deals ave been agreed for Harry Maguire and James Ward-Prowse, along with the imminent arrival of Edson Alvarez. So it's lucky no-one on twitter has been having meltdowns over the lack of activity in the past few weeks. Ward-Prowse might be 28 but having just watched a video of all his free-kick goals for the Saints he could really add something to the side with his assists and goals. Though given time we might be able to coach him into how to hit the wall rather than score.

It's less easy to see the need for Harry Maguire when WHU have Zouma and Aguerd, plus Kehrer and Ogbonna, but we're getting a player who once cost £80m for £30m and he has a point to prove. Maguire will surely be better in a team that plays deep and has never lost the confidence of Gareth Southgate. He looked a really good player for Hull and Leicester and both Mourinho and Guardiola tried to buy him at that point. His first season at United saw him tighten the defence but after that and his holiday arrest he lost his way and confidence. He'll be under less pressure at a team that wants to finish in the top half rather than win the league. Again he'll add a threat from set-pieces, and like Ward-Prowse is a club captain who can bring some leadership after Declan.

The bad news is that Man City are sniffing around Lucas Paqueta, though his £85m release clause isn't activated until next summer. In a busy morning, Nikola Vlasic has departed for Torino for around £10m. It's another hefty loss on a player who cost £25 million and was a panic buy after Moyes failed to sign Lingard. Despite being a regular sub for Croatia he never looked like adapting to the Premier League in his one season and scored just one-goal against a poor Watford side. We have to hope the new signings are better value.

Scamacca has left the building

Gianluca Scamacca has left West Ham for Atalanta. It seems astonishing that we spent a season and a half with only Antonio as a striker and then bought the wrong one. After an initial virus, he started quite well, but then seemed strangely diffident. He seemed to be carrying an injury and missed the second part of the season after having an operation. Scamacca clearly had quality as his long-range goal against Leeds and thumping shot against Wolves showed, and I'd have liked to see what he could do this season. 

If he was homesick then that is perhaps something the club should have spotted when they researched him. While Moyes clearly didn't think he put himself about enough, but then again that should have come up when we scouted him. Maybe his head was turned by another signing-on fee. At least we've only lost about £5m on Luca, as the add-ons were never activated on his £30.5m fee. So we're down to Antonio, Ings and Mubama up front. Scamacca has proved a costly mistake (hopefully the sort of thing technical director Tim Steidten can prevent). So we can now expect Luca to have a great season in Italy... but at least there is more money in the kitty for new signings.

Edson lighthouse?

Well, here is my possibly over-optimistic preview of the season in the Observer. But this squad really should be capable of a top half finish, even with Rice gone. A lot of twitter/X warriors have been catastrophising after the 4-0 friendly defeat at Bayer Leverkuson, wanting to sack Moyes and predicting relegation even before we've kicked off. Yes, it was a poor performance, perhaps partially explained by Billy McKinlay when he revealed the players had to be up at five am to fly to the match. But the main purpose of pre-season friendlies is to get fit and it might even do us a favour in removing any complacency. 

West Ham have now agreed a £32 million fee with Ajax for Edson Alvarez (Mexican Rice?) so that would be a significant step forwards. In our last competitive match we won a trophy. So as Graham Taylor once said to Rob Shepherd in Do I Not Like That, "Raise yourself Rob, I can't have long faces like yours round about me, get yourself up man!" And remember the Hammers lost the first three games of last season, which really was a bad start. We can judge the dealings at the end of the window and after the first ten games will have an idea of how the season will go. But for now let's stay positive.

Who is in control of transfers?

Rather a worrying piece by Jacob Steinberg in the Observer on the lack of a coherent transfer strategy. He cites tensions between David Moyes and new technical director Tim Steidten, with Moyes wanting proven PL performers and Steidten preferring younger players from Europe. Plus the input from Sullivan and Noble further confuses things. Add in Sully's tendency to underbid and West Ham have problems, with no Rice replacement signed as yet. 

Mind you, to read some online comments from West Ham fans you'd think we were relegated before a ball has been kicked. If we can get James Ward-Prowse then he would be a good signing, and you can understand the club not wanting to pay over the odds to a relegated team who should be desperate to sell. My hunch is the £30m bid will be increased. There was a similar keyboard panic when we failed to sign Onana last summer and we ended up with a trophy. Let's see where the club is at the close of the window.  

Massive in Newham

It was worth West Ham winning a trophy after 43 years just to receive this accolade from the Newham Bookshop. Good to meet Vivian and John again on my recent visit. And as always plenty of Hammers books in stock.

Some good signs Down Under

Well, we've lost a midfielder to some small trophy-less club in north London and now the real transfer activity begins. West Ham seem to have been knocked back in a loan attempt for Harry Maguire and a centre-back isn't a priority. Aguerd and Zouma are a decent pairing with Ogbonna and Kehrer as back-ups. 

Slabhead Maguire would certainly be better in a team that plays deep like West Ham and was a fine player at Hull and Leicester, though his confidence has been shot at United. A loan deal might have been a free hit for an England defender who once cost £80m, but midfield has to be the priority. The bid for Fulham's Palhinha is encouraging and Ward-Prowse would certainly add guaranteed goals from free-kicks.

Meanwhile the 3-2 victory against a strong Spurs side in Perth is good news even if the defending was a bit worrying - and a big gate of 46,000 gave it some proper atmosphere. Scamacca took his late winner very coolly and if fit this season could finally show what he's about. DIvin Mubama also scored a cracking header to add to his goal against Perth Glory and could add something up front in his breakthrough season. Also some good game time for the likes of Freddie Potts and two wins out of two.

We had a terrible start to last season losing the first three games. Hopefully some impetus from pre-season can see something much better this time round.

Hair we go

The Daily Mail has revealed that Danny Ings has had a £17,000 hair transplant at the Mayfair Hair Clinic in London. Will it be a hair-raising season for Danny? Or will he be another hair today gone tomorrow Hammers striker now he has baldly gone where lots of footballers have gone before? Guess he can always sign for Barnet.