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David Sullivan must deliver Watford forward Ismaila Sarr to David Moyes as West Ham United look to solve their striker crisis following Sebastien Haller’s exit.

What’s the word?

According to The Sun, the Irons are ready to splash £30m to make Sarr the club’s first signing of the January transfer window with Moyes on the lookout for attacking reinforcements.

Michail Antonio is now the east London outfit’s sole recognised senior centre-forward after the club sold Haller to AFC Ajax for £20m on Friday, leaving Moyes facing the fraught prospect of fielding no strikers at all if Sullivan fails to land a new addition this month.

Watford were able to retain Sarr in the previous transfer window after rejecting a £25m bid from Crystal Palace despite their relegation to the Championship, but West Ham are expected to top the Eagles’ offer to test the Hornets resolve.

The Vicarage Road natives are quietly confident they will be able to once again fend off any interest despite an expectancy that clubs will test the waters, looking to sign the Senegal forward who both Liverpool and Manchester United were denied last summer through their refusals to meet Watford’s £40-50m valuation.

Sarr has been a creative force in the second-tier this season with the 22-year-old speed machine offering four goals and five assists in 18 appearances, living up to Sadio Mane’s hype after the Reds gem told The Athletic: “He’s rapid. I think defenders will struggle.

“I was speaking to Robbo [Andy Robertson], I said, ‘Watford have a really good player. I will need to help you more otherwise Ismaila Sarr will kill you, because he is a good dribbler and very, very fast.’”

Dream deal

Landing Sarr may prove expensive for West Ham but the £63,000-per-week forward may prove to be the Irons’ dream deal in their search of Haller’s replacement. The club, if they do a deal, would be delivering Moyes a clinical talent who would add versatility and brutality to the Scot’s attacking line.

Sarr has netted goals and provided assists from central and wide-right positions for Watford this season, and is firmly a star who former Premier League striker Kevin Phillips believes is a “top player” who “will only get better”.

Moyes would take a great deal of confidence in Sarr’s arrival through his creativity in the Championship so far this season, with the 32-cap attacker creating six big chances for Watford to score on top of his assists, while spurning three clear cut chances himself, per SofaScore.

The 6ft Senegalese dynamo further takes 1.5 shots and offers 0.8 key passes a game in the second-tier, while winning 6.4 duels with a 50% success rate, being fouled 2.9 times, winning possession 0.7 times, and delivering 0.5 accurate crosses.

Sarr’s ability to play on the wing and thrive through the centre is also very reminiscent of Antonio’s rise to prominence at the London Stadium, with him having often been a wide player before the 5 ft 10 gem made a move to striker and became West Ham’s main forward threat.

AND in other news, David Sullivan can seal West Ham’s dream Sebastien Haller heir in an “extraordinary” gem.

Is this the start of a stunning turnaround?

If you told Sunderland supporters that within a week of Lee Johnson walking through the door they’d score four unanswered goals, they’d have laughed in your face.

Although Johnson tasted defeat in his first game against Wigan, they bounced back in devastating fashion to utterly demolish Lincoln 4-0 last weekend.

All of a sudden, there is fresh positivity surrounding the Black Cats, something that has been far too infrequent over the last five or so years.

A clash against 14th place Wimbledon on Tuesday will be an interesting one and it is unlikely Johnson will make too many changes considering the previous result.

That being said, we’re tipping him to make one this evening.

The only change from Saturday’s win over the Imps is Aiden McGeady dropping out. The Irishman still hasn’t played a great deal of football since being drafted back into the senior side and like he was at Oldham, could be rested.

The tricky 5 ft 11 winger claimed an assist against Lincoln but so did Chris Maguire when Sunderland beat Oldham in the Papa John’s trophy last week.

Consequently, Maguire gets another run-out and an opportunity to prove himself. Johnson also has a big decision to make on Jack Diamond, someone we think should get the nod again.

He has been superb since the new head coach walked through the door and ran Lincoln ragged last time out, scoring and completing two dribbles.

Denver Hume, Luke O’Nien and Lynden Gooch are all still injured so it’s Callum McFadzean who starts once again on the left-hand side of the defence.

The midfield looked sturdy on Saturday so the usual trio of Josh Scowen, Grant Leadbitter and Max Power all start from the off.

In other news, Better than Maguire: Sunderland have just unearthed their new Josh Maja in “powerful” wizard…

David Moyes can solve his Sebastien Haller dilemma after Gabby Agbonlahor stated the West Ham striker will be “frustrated” to not have successfully replaced the injured Michail Antonio.

What’s he said?

Speaking with Football Insider, Aston Villa hero Agbonlahor has claimed Haller will be growing increasingly irritated to have not staked his claim for a starting role at the London Stadium whilst Moyes has been without star striker Antonio.

The £10.8m-rated dynamo has missed his side’s last two Premier League fixtures as a result of the hamstring injury sustained at home to Manchester City last month, which was expected to sideline Antonio for six weeks, yet he remains the Irons’ joint-top scorer with three goals.

Haller failed to strike a single effort against either Liverpool or Fulham when handed his first starts of the top-flight campaign, leaving the club-record £45m signing with just one goal in his last 13 Premier League outings.

Agbonlahor feels the Cottagers’ defensive-minded tactics played a great role in Haller’s plight continuing last time out, noting: “It’s not as if Fulham played a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, Fulham played a very defensive formation. It would have been tough for even Antonio to break them down.

“West Ham get their most joy when they play against teams on the counter-attack. The game against Fulham was tough to create chances. So, it’s not something that I’d worry about.

“I think with Haller, if you get the right balls into the box for him then he will score goals, but West Ham didn’t manage to do that. I’m sure he’ll be frustrated because he wants to be scoring goals.”

Moyes has the answers

Agbonlahor’s comments come in line with Moyes’ remarks following the Fulham clash, having told the West Ham website: “Our crossing quality was really poor and we didn’t deliver good enough quality into the box when we were in positions to do so. We were hoping to get something aerial for Haller to score from.”

Moyes now has the chance to afford Haller another shot at proving his worth in claret and blue when league action resumes against Sheffield United later this month, with ExWHUemployee – while speaking on the West Ham Way podcast – claiming the Scottish coach has already decided he will not risk Antonio aggravating his injury by starting him at Bramall Lane.

Instead, Antonio is due to be listed among the substitutes with Moyes keen to see if Haller can fare any better against a side who has allowed the second-most shots (15) and fourth-most crosses (21) a game in the top-flight thus far this term, per WhoScored.

Haller could only win six of his 10 aerial duels against Fulham last time out while striking just one of three shots on target, which Moyes will no doubt hope he can improve after netting on his Ivory Coast debut.

AND in other news, West Ham have been given the ideal chance to sign a “phenomenal” £20m David Moyes target.

West Ham United defender Aaron Cresswell produced a monster performance in victory over London rivals Fulham to outshine match-winner Tomas Soucek on Saturday.

Soucek struck the sole goal of the affair in the first minute of second-half stoppage-time to open his account for the season, before drama ensued when home debutant Said Benrahma caught Tom Cairney in the box to gift the Cottagers a late penalty.

But Fulham would not snatch a point in the final seconds after a VAR check confirmed the foul, as Ademola Lookman missed a tame Panenka-style effort that Lukasz Fabianski comfortably collected to keep his third clean sheet of the campaign thus far.

Soucek’s goal had delivered a late spark to what appeared to be a game heading for shared honours, though his driven effort could only seal the win for West Ham after Cresswell covered for a shaky Angelo Ogbonna performance to thwart Fulham throughout.

Cresswell had been one of the major unsung heroes of West Ham’s form earlier in the campaign, having moved into a new central defensive role after a summer spent seeing his position at left-back come under threat amid rumoured interest in the likes of Antonee Robinson, Ryan Manning, Robin Gosens and Emerson Palmieri.

But David Moyes did not welcome a new full-back to the London Stadium and, after a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United on the opening day, opted to switch things around and persist with a three-man defensive core.

Cresswell had played centrally under Moyes during his first stint in charge of the Irons, and is loving player there again after returning to a wide role under Manuel Pellegrini.

“I love it,” he told the club’s official website. “I played it when the gaffer first came in two-and-a-half-years ago. We were a bit short on defenders at the time and the gaffer asked if I’d ever played there.”

Cresswell’s joy for the role was clear as day against Fulham, as he offered a box-to-box threat with several set-pieces causing the Cottagers all sorts of problems. One of his deliveries also smashing against the crossbar early in the second half.

The 30-year-old was defensively solid, too, with success in his only attempted tackle alongside two clearances and an interception. He further won two of his four aerial contests and his sole ground duel, per SofaScore, while completing 69 of his 76 attempted passes.

Only Fabian Balbuena (77) attempted and completed (70) more passes for West Ham against Fulham than Cresswell, who proved Moyes’ hero with a game-high 101 touches and four key balls – double that of Soucek, the next-best creator for the Hammers on Saturday.

Cresswell is now far from the unsung hero he was just weeks ago, and is firmly one of the first names on Moyes’ teamsheets heading into the November international break.

AND in other news, West Ham have entered the £8m race to sign an in-demand sensation who “can do anything”.

He might not be able to play on Thursday night, but Tottenham Hotspur’s summer arrival, Joe Rodon, has to be the man to replace Toby Alderweireld going forward.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was dealt one hell of a blow that put a massive dampener on their 2-0 win over Manchester City at the weekend as the Belgian centre-back went off injured in the second-half without coming into contact with an opposition player.

Alderweireld has played a big part in the north Londoners keeping three clean sheets in four matches.

Following the match, the Special One claimed: “It’s bad, it’s bad. It’s a muscular injury,” which may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but it would not be a shock considering he had played three international matches in just over a week beforehand.

There will be a temptation to bring Davinson Sanchez back into the fold having not made the matchday squad in any of their last four Premier League outings whilst he only made the bench last time out in the Europa League.

The one-time club-record £42m arrival, who is now worth €50m (£45m) will undoubtedly feature against Ludogorets this week and that’s a risk they can afford to make given the level in competition, but regardless of his performance, he can’t be trusted for their trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

A frontline involving Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz is a scary prospect as it is, it’ll only be made worse by putting a player dubbed a “liability” by many supporters next to Eric Dier, who is not a centre-back by trade himself.

An argument can easily be made against Rodon, considering his only top-flight experience has been a total of ten minutes across substitute appearances against Burnley and City, but he’s far more worth the gamble than an already-known calamity.

The Welshman’s ceiling is high having drawn comparisons to Rio Ferdinand and John Terry whilst journalist Dominic Booth added: “Rodon is a leader given his age, a bit of an old head on young shoulders. He’s good in the air despite not being a huge presence, and looks destined for bigger things.”

In his four appearances for Swansea before the switch, he averaged a whopping 7.8 clearances, 5.3 aerials won and 2.3 interceptions per game, via WhoScored.

His 6 foot 4 presence will be much-needed in the absence of Alderweireld. It’s on Mourinho to take that punt for the foreseeable future.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Winks: Jose must unleash “phenomenal” Spurs monster tipped as “future captain”…

Bongani Zungu has added fuel to the fire regarding rumours of a move to Glasgow Rangers.

The ‘Gers have been heavily linked with Zungu over the past few months, with the Ibrox outfit said to be in advanced talks with his current club Amiens over a potential deal. However, news of any agreement has cooled recently, and it seems as though the 54-time Scottish champions have moved on to other targets.

However, there have been further developments over the past few days. When asked on Twitter whether he still played for Amiens, Zungu replied that he does not, and he then proceeded to like a tweet from a Rangers fan account saying that he should make the move to the ‘Gers.

As a player with 52 Ligue 1 appearances to his name and 24 caps for South Africa, Zungu would be a good signing on paper. Having said that, this kind of attitude will surely be a warning to Steven Gerrard and Ross Wilson. If he is acting in such a way to secure a move now, who is to say that he wouldn’t do so again in the future if he were looking for a move away from the ‘Gers?

Having the playing ability is one thing, but that means nothing if the mental part of your game is just not as strong. Gerrard and co must do their due diligence if they are still in the market for the £1.44m-valued 27-year-old.

‘Gers fans, are you alarmed by Zungu’s denial about being an Amiens player? Let us know what you think by commenting below!

Mark Robins will look to make it back-to-back wins this coming weekend as Coventry City travel to face Barnsley in the Championship.

The impressive 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers last weekend saw the Sky Blues gain their first three points of the new season.

Gaining promotion from League One to the Championship last term, Robins has made significant changes to his squad via the transfer market, bringing in a whole host of new faces, including Gustavo Hamer from PEC Zwolle and Callum O’Hare on a permanent deal from Aston Villa.

For the trip to Barnsley, Robins is unlikely to make any changes to the starting 11 which will ultimately be a key decision as he looks to gain a second win in three games.

Having three names on the injury list at the present time in Liam Kelly, Wes Jobell and Julien Dacosta, Robins has a fairly fit side. Whilst Kelly is back in training, it has been confirmed that the Barnsley game will come too soon.

Marko Marosi will continue in between the sticks, behind a back three of Dominic Hyam, Kyle McFadzean and Leo Ostigard.

The left wing back role will be taken up by Ryan Giles and Fankaty Dabo could keep his place on the opposite side.

Jamie Allen and Gustavo Hamer looked comfortable together last weekend and they will be deployed in the holding midfielder roles, allowing the likes of O’Hare and Jordan Shipley to play in advanced midfield roles.

The lone striker role will be taken up by Matt Godden, who has netted twice in two Championship outings, but Tyler Walker will be desperate to get on the pitch and be handed a chance by Robins.

Do you think Coventry can get all three points against Barnsley? Let us know in the comments section below…

This article forms part of our Total Duds feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at how a player has fared since being signed or sold, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to prove how bad a deal the club got.

Back in the January transfer window in 2018, West Ham signed Jordan Hugill from Preston on deadline day. They acquired the forward for around £9.18m, per Transfermarkt and he had a decent season at the Championship side whilst he was there in the 2017/18 campaign as he scored eight goals and supplied two assists in 27 appearances.

There was hope that he could replicate this at the Hammers and the Englishman was joining at a good time as the East London side sat 11th in the Premier League.

However, it did not start well for the forward as he featured for only 22 minutes in the 2017/18 season for the Irons and failed to score, per Transfermarkt. This clearly highlighted that he was not rated at the club, which was further proven when they loaned him out to Middlesbrough for the 2018/19 season.

At the Championship side he managed to make 41 appearances, scoring seven times and providing two assists, but clearly this was not enough as the Hammers then loaned him out last season to Queens Park Rangers, where he scored 15 goals in 41 appearances.

With the 28-year-old now returning to the club as his loan has expired, it seems that West Ham want to get rid of him permanently, with Norwich and QPR interested in permanent deals. However, the Canaries only want to pay £2m upfront, potentially rising to £4m.

So far he has still only managed 22 minutes of football at West Ham and the fact he could leave for less than half of his initial transfer fee highlights that he has been a total dud for the Irons.

Hammers fans, what are your thoughts on Hugill? Comment below with your views!

West Brom have a big transfer window ahead of them as they look to build a squad capable of remaining in the Premier League next season.

The Baggies looked fantastic for the majority of 2019/20, but their drop off in form at the end of the season almost cost them promotion and highlighted the frailties in their side.

Fortunately, the financial windfall that comes with being promoted to the top-flight will allow the Baggies to bolster the positions that they want to strengthen.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, their resources are not limitless and one player that Steve Madeley believes would fit the bill at the Baggies would be too expensive.

What’s been said then?

Madeley stated in his Athletic column that Bilic may be looking towards a midfielder, claiming that Phillip Billing would fit the bill of what he is looking for, but the finances involved make that deal unlikely.

“Philip Billing, who has Premier League experience with both Huddersfield and Bournemouth, would fit the bill but the latter paid £15 million for him after the Yorkshire club went down a year ago and, should they be intent on recovering much of their outlay now they have also been relegated, he will be too expensive,” he wrote.

Bullet dodged, but worrying

Billing being out of West Brom’s price range could be a good thing, considering the fact that the midfielder has been relegated in each of his past two seasons, but the fact that he is too expensive for them is slightly worrying.

Bournemouth reportedly want to recoup a lot of the £15m they spent on Billing, but after earning over £100m alongside promotion, that should be something of a drop in the ocean for the Baggies rather than a massive hurdle.

We’ll have to see how much the Midlands club spend this summer, but if they’re struggling to spend £15m on a player, they may have to rely on a number of bargains.

Manchester United will sell Andreas Pereira this summer if a ‘reasonable’ offer arrives, according to reports. 

As reported by The Times, Man United will sanction a transfer for Pereira, who is Paul Pogba’s best friend at the club, if they receive a suitable bid.

The Red Devils are ready to let eight or nine players leave as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to get rid of the dead wood in the summer. However, finding buyers for these fringe players could be Solskjaer’s biggest challenge yet.

Pereira has struggled to break into the first team during Jose Mourinho’s time in charge at Old Trafford, although his chances have improved under Mourinho’s successor.

The 24-year-old recently made headlines off the pitch, though. after blasting “arrogant” Liverpool rivals Virgil van Djik and James Milner following the Reds’ Premier League trophy lift last week.

The Brazilian, who has won one cap for his country, played 25 games in the Premier League this season, scoring once, supplying three assists, taking 1.5 shots per game and successfully completing 1.3 key passes on average (via WhoScored).

While Pereira has insisted that he has no plans to leave Old Trafford, he admitted he could see himself playing for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Santos in the future.

Clubs are operating in unprecedented financial circumstances and it is hard to imagine that any of the aforementioned sides will be willing to spend anywhere the £14.4m valuation for a player who has only scored two goals in the entire season so far.

Solskjaer wants to sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund, as he believes the England international is the signing he needs to rebuild the Red Devils, which could push Pereira further down the pecking order if Sancho arrives in the summer.

United fans, do you think Ed Woodward should sell Pereira before the start of next season? Let us know your views by commenting below!