West Ham’s Daring Bid for Gallagher and Ward-Prowse

In the past 24 hours, we have had reports that West Ham have made a significant bid, believed to be over £40mil, rejected by Chelsea for Conor Gallagher, and placed a bid of £25mil with Southampton for James Ward-Prowse.

Someone needs to take David Moyes phone off him. These are not the type of moves West Ham should be making as they set about rebuilding and spending the Declan Rice money.

Understanding West Ham’s Tactical Approach

West Ham play a 4-2-3-1 under Moyes in almost every game, and it would make little sense for them to change that moving forward given the players at the club. Jarod Bowen, Said Benrahma, Max Cornet, and Pablo Fornels all work well in the wide areas. Fornals can also play in the number 10 position usually occupied by the brilliant Lucas Paqueta. That’s a lot of good players in that area of the field.

They do, at times, drop into a 4-3-3 with Paqueta playing as an 8. That’s fine, Paqueta can do that as long as he still has a strong platform of two defensive players in that midfield with him. Neither Gallagher nor Ward-Prowse is a particularly strong defensive player. Gallagher is very active but not very smart with his defensive work, and Ward-Prowse is just flat-out poor defensively.

Questioning Gallagher and Ward-Prowse’s Contributions

Neither are particularly good passers of the ball either. Ward-Prowse has good range but makes poor decisions. Gallagher has neither range nor good decision-making. Neither of them helps much in build-up play.

Ward-Prowse is obviously one of the world’s best from set pieces, but from open play, he’s below average in most areas. Gallagher also has areas he excels in, largely off-ball runs into the box and pressing. He’s a ball of unrefined energy who could be moulded into a very useful player but does not work well in a double pivot, but has done well in a midfield three with two more defensive-minded players next to him in the past.

Speculations about West Ham’s Transfer Strategy

Are West Ham looking to sign one or both of the pair? One of them might make sense as a squad addition alongside two new starting midfielders. Gallagher in particular could be a useful alternative to Paqueta to play with two more defensive-minded midfielders.

If Ward-Prowse was younger, potentially he could be converted into a right back to make use of his crossing ability and have his set-piece ability in the team but at almost 29 it’s too late for them.

I’m not sure what the plan is at West Ham this summer, but links like these two and Scott McTominay suggests David Moyes is in charge of recruitment. If that’s the case, having hired one of the best talent spotters in Europe in Tim Steidten, then the club is not functioning properly.

The Potential Consequences of Moyes’ Reign

If Moyes is allowed free reign, and wastes the Rice money on players like these then he will be out of a job by November while West Ham will be stuck with a couple of immovable contracts for ill-fitting players.