HAMMERS CONFIDENT OF CHAMAKH DEAL
WEST HAM believe they will land Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh in the January transfer window.
The deal will be struck with French club Bordeaux whether or not the Hammers are taken over by new owners.
Chamakh came close to signing for the club in the summer but financially stricken West Ham were unable to stump up the £6million transfer fee on deadline day.
But I understand that the club are now ready to off-load Mathew Upson in January - with Liverpool the firm favourites to land the centre-half whom the Hammers value at around 10million.
That would release enough cash to sign Chamakh and bolster other areas of the club's squad.
But should new American-backed owners see through their takeover bid then the Hammers will not necessarily have to offload England international Upson and American backed consortium headed by Jim Bowe held formal meetings with the club's Icelandic based owners on Thursday and have instructed Rothchilds to oversee their buyout bid.
As revealed in the News of the World two weeks ago, the American consortium with English-based investors are ready to offer £100million to take control of the Hammers.
But they want to be satisfied about the true extent of the club's debt which has been estimated to be in the region of £45million.
But some city analysts have suggested that the true extent of West Ham's debt could be more.
And the main reason other potential buyers David Sullivan and David Gold have moved to the sidelines is because they consider the club to be too expensive with £100million price tag.
Over the next couple of weeks, Rothchilds will run through the West Ham books before deciding to recommend to the American backers to continue their takeover bid and complete due diligence.
A source revealed: "At first West Ham did not respond to the interest but they have now been satisfied by the consortiums proof of funds."There was a satisfactory meeting on Thursday and matters should now move forward quite quickly.
"Within the next couple of weeks, it will become clear about the true state of West Ham's finances and whether or not the consortium will continue with their offer."If they are satisfied that 100million is the right price then they will continue. If not they will walk away.
"Should they continue with the takeover then they are ready to allocate funds of up to £30million for new players in the January transfer window."
Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola is desperate for the club to sort its finances out so he can significantly strengthen his squad in January especially up front.
And 25-year-old Chamakh is the club's prime target.
He was being chased by Arsenal last summer but in the end Arsene Wenger withdrew his interest because of Bordeaux's £8million asking price which he felt too excessive for a player he deemed as only a back-up striker.
But Zola sees Chamakh as the ideal partner for Carlton Cole and given that the player is out of contract next summer the Hammers could end up picking him up for a cut price £5m.
This article has 7 comments
This pessimism drives me mad! Yes ,we are no more than a "mid-table" side which is slightly under-performing but we will pull ourselves out of this. The CEO must be given credit as it could be a lot worse ,bearing in mind that we were de facto owned by a bank that went bust in the worst recession for 80 years!! Selling Collins...Regrettable. Should have sold upson instead!! Think of it another way...If we had Ashton fit and had not sold Collins, we would have been in the top 6 so if we do find a buyer,it wont cost much to dramatically improve our results.
By Kevin A-H. Posted November 10 2009 at 3:53 PM.
Cobra Hammer. Sadly it is people like you who have no clue.
If your content in watching us lose leads not once but twice when we have an extra man, if you are happy being in november with not only 1 win but no wins at home, if you are happy with poor tactics and lame subsitutions from our manager then good for you.
Me, i have been a season ticket holder for 38 years now have gone through all this before.
We are in major trouble both on and off the pitch.
If we get relegated i will still be there next season, will you??
Zola has not got a clue how to turn things around. He wont be here much longer anyway. He will quit and walk away.
By hammers&Irons. Posted November 1 2009 at 10:01 PM.
Anyone wlling to pay £10m for a slightly-above-average 31 year-old needs their head examined. He's worth half that at best.
By Nigel M. Posted November 1 2009 at 8:06 PM.
I think Zola is doing a fairly good job although we are not getting the points that on some games we deserved.
It will be good to have this take over and have some money to spend in january.
We need a good striker to partner Cole and Bordeaux's Chamakh will do that if we sign him, we also need a couple of defenders as ours apart from Upson is poor.
By cobra hammers. Posted November 1 2009 at 7:19 PM.
hammers an irons it really dont sound like you have much of a clue, get shot of zola you have got to be having a laugh this is the best football we have been playing 4 years, zola an clarke will take us far for sure i dont think its down to them we sold collins but every player has inproved so much since thay took over apart from mark noble in my opinion get rid of him...hammers through an through yeh but he just aint good enough!..if this take ova does happen then exspect good things! stop panicking
By steve. Posted November 1 2009 at 3:40 PM.
Only eight teams have a better defensive record than West Ham.
One win jumps us up to 15th.
Stop being such a whinging girl.
By OneMcAvennie. Posted November 1 2009 at 9:18 AM.
So we are leaking goals left right and center and we want to sell our best defender and most experianced player in Upson.
We have just scored 10 goals in 6 games but failed to win any of those games because our defence is so poor and selling Collins was a huge mistake.
Scoring goals is no longer and problem, keeping them out at the other end IS!
Please let someone buy us before it is to late.
Whoever does buy us please get shot of Nani and Zola and bring in someone who knows what a manager is.
By hammers&Irons. Posted October 31 2009 at 10:58 PM.