Nobby Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 West Ham in for Ljungberg as Arsenal line up Dutch star By Jason Burt Published: 09 January 2007 West Ham United last night made an audacious bid to sign Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg. No fee has been discussed so far for the 29-year-old Swedish international, although Arsenal do appear prepared to sell him and West Ham have the funds available. Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has lined up Ajax's Dutch international left winger Ryan Babel as Ljungberg's replacement. The 20-year-old is keen to join Arsenal although no deal will be done before the end of the season as Wenger wants to look at other targets. Babel was recently described by the Netherlands coach, Marco van Basten, as having the potential to be the "new Thierry Henry". If West Ham sign Ljungberg, they will shelve their interest in Shaun Wright-Phillips, who remains reluctant to move to Upton Park despite a £10m bid being lodged, with the winger also offered the same £50,000-a-week wages he earns at Chelsea. Indeed, it is thought that the bid is now close to collapse. West Ham are confident that they will also be able to match Ljungberg's personal terms - which means he could earn an astonishing £70,000 a week - but although the midfielder is keen to stay in the Premiership, they are unsure if he will want to join a relegation-threatened club. It is likely that Ljungberg, who is now captain of the Swedish national team, may insist on an exit clause should West Ham be relegated. West Ham could also try to revive Arsenal's interest in their midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, who wants to leave the club after a traumatic season, and offer him in a possible swap deal. Wenger was interested in signing Reo-Coker last summer as was Sir Alex Ferguson. It is thought that he has cooled on the player since but is still looking for young central midfield talent which would raise question marks over the future of Gilberto Silva as well as Ljungberg. Arsenal have also, in the past, shown interest in Yossi Benayoun although West Ham are adamant they want to recruit players not sell them. Ljungberg, who has two years left on his contract at the Emirates Stadium, joined Arsenal in 1998 for £3m from the Swedish club Halmstad and has been a key member of Wenger's squad. However, the signings of Alexander Hleb and Tomas Rosicky have limited his opportunities this season and, although he had a fine Champions' League campaign last season, it is believed he is not central to Wenger's plans. If West Ham manage to sign Ljungberg, it would represent a huge coup. They also believe it will help them in their attempts to secure their other transfer targets. West Ham's potential bid for Ljungberg once again shows the determination and ambition of the Icelandic consortium which took control of the club last autumn. The chairman, Eggert Magnusson, promised that money would be spent in the transfer window and West Ham have been busy lining up a number of targets. They have already signed Luis Boa Morte from Fulham for £5m and last night completed a move for West Bromwich Albion midfielder Nigel Quashie. The 28-year-old Scottish international has joined on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an initial £1.5m with a further £250,000 payable if West Ham avoid relegation. He may start against Fulham on Saturday. West Ham are also in the hunt for Alexei Smertin, who is set to leave Dynamo Moscow. They also want Bolton Wanderers defender Talal Ben Haim, although his advisers may still try to secure a move to Chelsea, and they have not given up hope of signing Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka. http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/news/article2137748.ece Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nguyen Van Falk Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Are West Ham just buying anyone available? Seem's there is no plan to it at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle Fan Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 dam them tbh if we don't make a move fast,West Ham,Wigan and pompy will take all the good players and we will be left with "Bernards and Moore's" to fix our defence with, more Sibreski's and Rossi's for our attack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 West Ham are buying their way out of trouble. They had a decent squad already, now a slightly better manager, and some good players coming in. Will be a good team next season, EPL survival is a cert if they get all of these players. and its the 9th (a third of the way through the window) and we've signed fuk all. Classic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottledDog Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 West Ham are buying their way out of trouble. They had a decent squad already, now a slightly better manager, and some good players coming in. Will be a good team next season, EPL survival is a cert if they get all of these players. and its the 9th (a third of the way through the window) and we've signed fuk all. Classic Have faith in the plan, man. Roeder is just lulling you into a false sense of insecurity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 and its the 9th (a third of the way through the window) and we've signed fuk all. I'm starting to fear something similar to last time has happened, where we get all starry eyed because we've been given a little sniff at getting a big name player we don't need like SWP or someone and we're fannying about looking into that with mundane stuff like a left back on the back burner until the night before the window shuts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 and its the 9th (a third of the way through the window) and we've signed fuk all. I'm starting to fear something similar to last time has happened, where we get all starry eyed because we've been given a little sniff at getting a big name player we don't need like SWP or someone and we're fannying about looking into that with mundane stuff like a left back on the back burner until the night before the window shuts. Its not going how i hoped thats for sure. SWP is a loan shot, nothing more, thats how i see it, we should not be concentrating on it. We should of been throwing Luque back across to Spain as fast as we can, swap loan, Cassano, Andrade, Collocini or some other £5m-ish star not happy and wanting to leave, that should of been done by now, or at least building momentum, i mean WTF is Luque's agent doing? (sitting on a nice fat pay day here probably) We need to be looking at sensible buys, but all i hear is other teams looking at our players for peanuts, and us going for daft targets like Bent & Crouch when we cant afford to blow whatever little money we have in this window on these types of players. A leftback is priority, we have only one, he's shit and a lazy cunt, we need another simple as. If we finish this window without one, this club is beyond saving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
midds Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
midds Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Fair enough.......but what happens if they've signed Boa Morte and Ljungberg on big money only to go down anyway.... Still good buys?? As it happens, I think they'll get out of it this season but I still get the impression that something isn't quite right at West Ham. It just doesn't ring true and I think it'll go tits up within a few years. No reason for thinking this - just a hunch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Fair enough.......but what happens if they've signed Boa Morte and Ljungberg on big money only to go down anyway.... Still good buys?? As it happens, I think they'll get out of it this season but I still get the impression that something isn't quite right at West Ham. It just doesn't ring true and I think it'll go tits up within a few years. No reason for thinking this - just a hunch. They are planning for a big escape though, not looking back, only forward. Too many clubs dont spend right when in that zone around this time, and go down because of it. (also not many have the chance to spend big like they have, they are taking advantage) I think without spending WHU had a good chance of staying up, but with extra creativity in the mid, maybe a striker to partner the returning Ashton, and they'll be above us in no time. I get that feeling too. But WHU have never been right not for a long time considering how much young talented players they've produced in the last ten years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offshore Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Just a journeyman, the only thing consistant about Quashie is his abilty to get relegated from the premiership....4 times so far!! 5 times would do me nicely Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Just a journeyman, the only thing consistant about Quashie is his abilty to get relegated from the premiership....4 times so far!! 5 times would do me nicely Now that's harsh, poor guy. I wouldn't mind them going down, tbh, i dont really care who as long as its not us. Maybe if we were near the top i'd pick a fav and pray they'd go down. But with only 4-5pts in it, 16 games or so to go, they will make it, i reckon Wigan need to watch themselves this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
midds Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Not sure about Curbishley either. Decent but not great - he'll sign decent players and get them playing decent football but he's not the bloke to take them to the next level. I think they'll stay up by a few points but can't see them making the progress the new owners want/expect in the next few years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offshore Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Sounds about right tbh. West Ham are rolling the dice in the hope that someone comes in and changes their season around. Doubt it'll be Ljungberg though. Way past his best and I can't see him being that motivated to play West Ham out of trouble... Would much rather Roeder went out and found the 'next' Ljungberg than sign this fucker. We dont need Ljungberg, i'd say West Ham do. Not much creativity when Benayoun goes off form, and Etherington is shit. Boa Morte down the left, he was going for SWP down the right but now has (maybe) Ljungberg. Its not that much panic tbh, both good buys, Quashie is solid and consistant someone for when Re-coker is letting them down. Just a journeyman, the only thing consistant about Quashie is his abilty to get relegated from the premiership....4 times so far!! 5 times would do me nicely Now that's harsh, poor guy. I wouldn't mind them going down, tbh, i dont really care who as long as its not us. Maybe if we were near the top i'd pick a fav and pray they'd go down. But with only 4-5pts in it, 16 games or so to go, they will make it, i reckon Wigan need to watch themselves this year. The only thing that would be better than the current bottom 3 getting relegated as they're all London teams (Watford, well very close) would be to cherry-pick which 3 in London went down. agree though that at least they're trying to get themselves out of trouble. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 be funny as fook if they spunked all this money and still were in the shit and went down...cheap move for Ashton!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 We must remember how hard it is to sign players, its not like other clubs are doing it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teepee Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 it smells of a panic situation - they wont have time to integrate those players for all they know their star performers for the next five months could be the two argentinians, with boa morte and quashie on the bench... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemmill Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 We must remember how hard it is to sign players, its not like other clubs are doing it... It's the hardest thing in football. And it is POINTLESS doing any planning or identifying any targets in advance of the window opening because all that will happen is someone else will put in a bigger bid and you lose them. Better to just leave things until 8pm on the last day of the window and get Willie McKay on the blower. "Planning" gets you nowhere in football. "Fly by the seat of your pants" is where it's at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta_Toon Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 we must always remember that the number 1 goal in football is to have as many players as possible move through the club each year on absolutely no account should any time be invested in the players we do have every player that arrives must automatically assumed to be shit, and be replaced at the earliest opportunity we must never ever take into account how much a player costs or what he can do for us if a player is available, he must come to us. If he does not he must be labelled crazy or a fool, or better still a crazy fool This is the way forward. This is the way of the Champions. This is the future. This is Mein Football Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I'd definitely take Ljungberg for the right price. Top player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UV Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 We must remember how hard it is to sign players, its not like other clubs are doing it... It's the hardest thing in football. And it is POINTLESS doing any planning or identifying any targets in advance of the window opening because all that will happen is someone else will put in a bigger bid and you lose them. Better to just leave things until 8pm on the last day of the window and get Willie McKay on the blower. "Planning" gets you nowhere in football. "Fly by the seat of your pants" is where it's at. Matthew Kilgallon [Leeds - Sheff Utd] £1.75m Nigel Quashie [West Brom - West Ham] £1.5m Luis Boa Morte [Fulham - West Ham] Undisclosed David Unsworth [sheffield United - Wigan] Free Vincenzo Montella [Roma - Fulham] Loan Ben Alnwick [sunderland - Tottenham] £900,000 Adel Taarabt [Lens - Tottenham] Loan Hurry, HURRY, HURRY!! All the bestest players are going.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nufc_geordie Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Matthew Kilgallon [Leeds - Sheff Utd] £1.75m Nigel Quashie [West Brom - West Ham] £1.5m Luis Boa Morte [Fulham - West Ham] Undisclosed David Unsworth [sheffield United - Wigan] Free Vincenzo Montella [Roma - Fulham] Loan Ben Alnwick [sunderland - Tottenham] £900,000 Adel Taarabt [Lens - Tottenham] Loan TBH I would have taken Kilgallon, Boa Morte and Montella for certain from that list and I can't comment on Taarabt as I know nothing about him. Kilgallon has been the only jewel left in the Leeds crown for a few seasons now. Maturing well, a good, solid, young defender who can play either centre back or left back. At the very least good cover for our defence. Boa Morte can play on the left or upfront and has plenty of pace and experience. Montella is a proven world class forward who is short of games. Given our current situation and lack of strikers I think he would have been a good aqcuisition until the end of the season at least. These players are out there and available you FAT TW*T and GERBIL BOY, now get out there and get them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 We must remember how hard it is to sign players, its not like other clubs are doing it... It's the hardest thing in football. And it is POINTLESS doing any planning or identifying any targets in advance of the window opening because all that will happen is someone else will put in a bigger bid and you lose them. Better to just leave things until 8pm on the last day of the window and get Willie McKay on the blower. "Planning" gets you nowhere in football. "Fly by the seat of your pants" is where it's at. Matthew Kilgallon [Leeds - Sheff Utd] £1.75m Nigel Quashie [West Brom - West Ham] £1.5m Luis Boa Morte [Fulham - West Ham] Undisclosed David Unsworth [sheffield United - Wigan] Free Vincenzo Montella [Roma - Fulham] Loan Ben Alnwick [sunderland - Tottenham] £900,000 Adel Taarabt [Lens - Tottenham] Loan Hurry, HURRY, HURRY!! All the bestest players are going.... To be honest more players have moved than that plus there are others available but hey we will see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UV Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 To be honest more players have moved than that plus there are others available but hey we will see. Not to premiership clubs according to the BBC, however Larsson isn't on the list so you may be right, but I can't think of any others. Edit: Oops I also missed Watford out of the Premiership :/ Moses Ashikodi [Rangers - Watford] Nominal fee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now