Ex Juventus star arrives this Friday
Aug 27, 2008 Featured Article, Talks, Transfers, West Ham News
The West Ham board have agreed a fee of £5m for ex Juventus Midfielder Stephen Appiah and have sent staff out to Turin to finalise the deal.
Stephen Appiah should be at Upton Park for a medical on Friday and all going well he will be training with the squad during the weekend.
The sale of Ferdinand for £8m has obviously given Curbs a little spending power hence why all of a sudden after weeks of negotiations this deal is at its latter stages.
Appiah did have a long spell from training and competing in matches due to injuries, but now is 100% fit and ready to join the Hammers and to give Curbs some relief in an area that is lacking talent.
This post was submitted by Joe J.
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Tags: 5m, 8m, curbs, hammers, Juve, Juventus, Latter Stages, Midfielder, Negotiations, Spending Power, Stephen Appiah, Turin, upton park, West Ham
August 27th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Whilst any transfer is welcomed I am disapoointed with this one. Yes he does fit the profile, ending his career, long history of injuries, problamatic in the dressing room and overpaid I wonder if it is really the best use of 5million.His departure and ongoing contract dispute should make him avoidable at all costs yet we seem hell bent on attracting trouble. If his injuries were broken arms etc i could understand but this guy has a history, over 5years of troublesome knee injuries, as these can never be fully resolved and must mentally have an inpact on his cimitment to strong challenges I wonder if central midfield is an ideal position. I also feel that we are weakest in attack and as we already have several players capable of a central midfield role, albeit not great, would it not be better to spend the money on someone to create some flair or even put the ball in the back of the net.I am hoping that these last few days sees more than just one arrival and a few more departures, lets hope Cole goes to Sunderland as rumoured as well as offers for Gabbidon and LBM, Quashi, Bowyer and Mullins.If all left and we got three new arrivals I believe the squad will of been trimmed and strengthened which was the objective.The Board has made it clear they will invest for the future and get rid of anyone not interested in the future of the club. The reason ferdinand was sold is simply because he would not commit to a longer contract so I am 100% behind the decision. I also feel with this approach we may yet see Neil depart, he has demonstrated that he wants to remain on very big wages if he stays and quite simply he will not get that under the change of regime. Bellamy is not for sale because he still has 2.5 years left and therefore we can capitilse on any sale value come January should he be scoring frequently in the next 4 months. His present high salary is already budgeted for so unless it is an outgrageous figure (10+Million) he will stay, thankfully.
i haven’t yet seen this guy play but aparently he was a mastermind in the champions league (interweb sources). i only feel though that this will almost certainly be the of quashie’s career at upton park. but one question still remains. why isn’t curbs buying any strikers? ashton is still not fit, cole lacks the finishing touch, bellamy’ best friend is a sick note and freddy sears lacks experience. if it was fergie or LFS, or any other club for that matter, the would have replacements (lined up) here there and everywhere. with less than a week before the transfer deadline surely curbs must sweating. i think this shows that there is a bad relationship between curbs and who ever else is in charge of the club. we should have had at least 4 new players by now. my perfect installment…hernan crespo.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Spot on Aussihammer,
The thing with Ferdinand is that he was no Rio; yes he did come through the academy and then work his way through the ranks, BUT that is no justification for keeping him in the starting line up and playing him week in week out and not selling him.
At West Ham we do pride ourselves on getting behind our team, backing our playing staff through thick and thin, but there comes a time when the cold hard facts need to be addressed.
The reported £8m fee for Anton is a good price for a player who is a little hit and miss at times and has a somewhat chequered history with regard to off the field behaviour and telling the odd a porky about visiting a sick relative…..
All in all we do have a good squad; tell me one group of fans for ANY club in the world that doesn’t have differing and massively contrasting views on team selection and future player purchases/sales – this is what makes the sport so addictive, passionate and fantastic.
The problem with us at the moment is the way the team lines up, the manner in which most seem to be playing and the way the manager conducts himself before and after matches.
I understand that Curbs is an introvert by nature but it’s the almost pessimistic interviews and lack of passion that worries me. This will filter through to the players and also us, the fans.
I can assure you that I am as passionate as anyone on match day, getting behind the team from the start, but if I am honest, there is a niggling worry as soon as I get on that train towards the ground, wondering if curbs will DROP Boa Morte, or, as was the case last season, actually start Nobby Solano for a change, a little flair was what we needed desperately, but he was never given a chance, another that never got a run was Camara, what harm would have come from giving him a few matches when we were safe in the league and drifting along playing totally unenthusiastic football? A little side note to that, he scored 2 good goals last night as well…..
Lets hope we witness a different team to that which turned out on Sunday taking to the pitch at Upton Park tonight …
COME ON YOU IRONS
Appiah is a class act when fit, he is a powerhouse, will score a few goals, and may add that little bit of flair we requirer. However big question marks over his fitness but surely the bad luck with injurys has got to end somewhere.Mark bresciono would be a good signing to. Surely Nani has been working hard over the summer and is just tieing up a few deals. Good money for ferdinand for a player who is injuryed alot and alot of the time living on the potential to be a good player rather then being one. Good youth prospects in this area with Tompkins,spence, Ngala, and the new Icelandic fella. So can see why the deal has been done ?Does seem like a lack of money available but it is important to get the right people in as so far money hasnt been spent wisely and this cant carry on. The introduction of Nani was clever and am resuured that the club arent just throwing money around for the sake of it as we all know what happened to leeds. Slow progression is the order of the day and other factors such as the training ground, world wide scouting network, and increased capacity all need to be put in place to enable us to improve as a club, attract top players, and not run on a loss. We just need to continue around the top ten not fall to far behind the likes of Tottenham, Man City and Villa to name a few and be built on strong buisness ethics not like Man City who are in millions of £ of debt. There is after all only four champion league places and three Ufea cup places and it hard to substain big wages and signing on fees and not be in these competitions.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Joe J. where do you get your info from. i haven’t seen this so certainly reported elsewhere. Basically i think you are making it up.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:18 am
remember me on friday then chris
August 27th, 2008 at 11:46 am
With all due respect to COYI this story is not appearing anywhere else in this form… that he is actually at the Boleyn for a medical. We have been linked forever with this player… if you put Stephen Appiah and West Ham into Google it returns 32700 links!!!! Isnt it more likely that a player who has just negotiated his release from his current club has an agent trying to drum up some interest by touting West Ham as close to a deal?What is going on at the club though? Its all food fore the despicable Daily Mail who are never shy of running another story dengirating the club, the players or the fans. There are three in that vein today alone.Much was made of our “spending spree” last Summer when in fact we were only a few million down on the trading of players going out and coming in… obviously wages went up but then they did for everyone. However much talent they have there is no substitute for experience, Mark Nobles ridiculous sending off on Saturday was all about naivety and if we continue to “develop” our talented teenagers by slinging them into the first team because there is noone else available I fear we are not just in for a very tough season but we are doing those young lads a terrible disservice. This is shaping up ugly. The only way to restore some confidence to the squad, not to mention the fans, must be to do some proper business between here and Sunday night. With 10M in the kitty on this Summers trading we should have enough resources to bring in the three players we need.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:50 am
all i can say is guys wait till friday and remember who came out with the news first.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Joe J. At this stage I would be happy to some new experienced faces, even those with a dodgy injury history!
You can’t blame me for being doubtful/cynical but i hope you are right.
I personally doubt we will bring anyone else in. i think the wallet has been shut and Curbs will have to stand or fall on what’s left of our squad. I think he’ll fall, the board not too bothered about letting him take a lot of the flak in the press and then they/Nani can get their own man in. Whether he will be an improvement (a la Bilic) or just some ‘yes’ man who thay can boss around remains to be seen..
August 27th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
We need to save Lukas Podolski!!!!! He wants to play and score goals and we need a forward up front who can work off of Dean Ashton. His speed could do the job up front and wide, which Curbs would love. He hardly ever plays for Bayern Muchen and a move to Koln would be a step backwards. But a move to West Ham would be a high profile move that could work. We are a London club, great for international travel. Easy for the DBF staff to see him play and for him to get to the DBF In Koln for national team training. The EPL is the strongest league in the world! Even on loan if Podolski does well it reflects back on Bayern by the player scoring and playing well. Every one could win!!!!!!!!!! Podolski could play, we would get a forward who could score and Bayern would be able to showcase their property in a big time league.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
joe j come out wiv the news first??? lol…..try at least 3rd….i seen this around yesterday…..w00p w00p
What worries me the most is there are no stories, not even rumours linking us to any decent players in the remaining transfer window and if none are signed we are in a lot of trouble and if the Board can’t see that then they need to get lost. I know we ain’t happy with AC but let’s not forget the real lack of investment that board have made viz a viz their so-called ambition. I think if BG expects to finish 7th with what we have then he best lay of the funny fags. The football and performances must be improved and that is where AC comes in but the investment must be continuous and if the Bpard ain’t prepared to do that then you must look to sell to someone who will and not feed us fans with a lot of crap.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Joe J. Still confident!!!!????
Let’s face it JMan is right. No new faces to come in, well certainly no one to get excited about.
Wellll ? We’re half way through Friday and the silence is deafening.Your adoring public awaits Joe. Please put us all out of our misery.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
where is he…???? has he got lost???