Hello friends, welcome to the latest update of my West Ham story. We have reached mid 2020 and this is my 10th season in charge of West Ham. We continued our dominance in domestic front but fell short in CL after we were knocked out by eventual winner Barcelona last season. There were plenty of transfer activities this season and some crazy sales which i let go a few players who helped us to where we are today. First let’s take a look at the season expectation for this season.
After winning the Premiership titles 3 times in a row, the board maintained their expectation of a continental finish with a promise budget of 174million for players purchase and 1.7million wages per week. I decided to choose the minimum target this time for safety reasons as i couldn’t predict where we will finish after the crazy sales this pre-season. Alright here is what you are waiting for, the transfers. There were some big names leaving, be prepared for some surprises.
Transfer Out
Are you surprised with some of the transfers here? The biggest name to leave the club is definitely club legend and fan favorite Yaya Sanogo. The other four influential players are captain Ryan Shawcross, Lenny Nangis, Lorenzo Crisetig and Kyriakos Papadopoulos. I had my reasons in agreeing to the sales of these loyal servants.
Lorenzo Crisetig, Lenny Nangis and Kyriakos Papadopoulos were sold mainly for profits as i want to replace them with younger players. Ryan Shawcross had one year left for his contract and we couldn’t reach to terms on his playing role for the club. Besides i simply couldn’t reject 15millions for a player reaching his twilight soon. I actually don’t want to sell Sanogo but looking at his past injuries record, i decided it was a good time to let him go.
We received a total of 108million and 100% were added to our transfer funds which saw our spending power increased to 200 over millions. My immediate task is to act fast and look for replacements to cover for center-back, right-winger and striker position. Without further ado, lets take a look at the new players joining us.
Transfer In
Only three players were signed for the first team, the rest are young players who will be place in the reserves for developments. I will introduce our three most important signings.
Anthony Gross is my record signing, signed from Anderlecht for 18.5million. At 20, he is already an established Italian international. Strong, great pace and unbeatable in the air. I doubt any strikers will be able to get past him easily.
Emauel Pereyra is a 12.5million signing from Dinamo Moscow. He is a player who is similar to Grosso. Very strong in the air and good pace. Both of them will take up the positions left vacant by Shawcross and Papadopoulos.
Emilio Pisculichi had his debut outing for Argentina shortly after he put down his signature on the contract. A 11.5million signing from Argentinian club Estudiantes. Fast, skillful and good on the ball. I don’t think we will be feeling the loss of Sanogo and Nangis with Pisculichi able to play up front and comfortable on the wing as well.
Not too many first team players were signed. Though we lost quite a few important players, i feel we still have the quality to compete in all the competitions this season.
Friendly Games
We did pretty well in the friendly and last three games was a trip to the US where we were gaining in popularity. It was good workout for the team and we played the usual fluid style we possessed. The new players were able to blend in nicely and i was looking forward to the start of the new season.
Premiership Odds
Man City is still the media’s favorite to win the Premiership title. They had been very quiet in the transfer market with them adding just two new players to their ranks. We were not far behind at a 3-1 odds. After winning three titles in a row, will this be our year again after the departure of so many first team players? We will find out later on.
Community Shield
Being the champions and FA Cup winner last season, we faced 2nd place Man City in this curtain raiser for the new season. They beat us 3-1 last season. This time round, it seemed we were more well prepared than them as they struggled to get into the game. New signing Emilio Pisculichi had a great outing for us as his goals in each half saw us leading Man City by 2-0 after dominating the game. Ganso managed to pull a goal back for them three minutes from full time. 2 minutes later, Pisculichi turned from hero to villain as he received his second caution and was sent off. Though we were one man down but it was too late for Man City to claim a draw. We won the Community Shield at the expense of them this season.
To me, this season proves to be a bigger challenge for us due to the fact we sold almost half of our first team squad. Will this affect our quest for honors? What do you think? Thanks for reading this pre-season updates and i am looking forward to your comments.
That looks like quite a clearout. The injury record of Sanogo is pretty awful, and definitely makes the decision to sell him look a good idea.
The new centre-backs look very good, especially their ability in the air. Pisculichi looks like he’ll cause the opposition defence all sorts of trouble. The nearest thing to a weakness are his composure and anticipation, but at 12 they aren’t too bad, but that’s being very picky indeed.
Great to see you beat Man City in the Community Shield, with the new striker showing his skill. Hopefully he’ll keep banging them in throughout the season.
TheZiggy´s last [type] ..January 2018: Piling On The Misery For Our Rivals
The injuries of Sanogo was certainly down to bad luck. It affected his goal ratio but overall he still banged in load of goals for us.
I was quite pleased with the new signings. Not only they are strong in air and they are very fast too. Pisculichi should turn out to be a key player for us this season. Hopefully he can justify the money spent on him.
Fantastic pre-season in my opinion…yes you offloaded some great players but I’m sure you know of my Y2G system and clearing out players at the right price and signing replacements for less really adds a sense of achievement to the game that can’t be attained through results so hopefully you got that too.
Darren Smith´s last [type] ..FM 2012 Player Profile – Alphonse Areola
I certainly have your Y2G in mind when i let go these loyal servants mate. But too bad we didn’t see too much increase in our revenue as West Ham has two huge outstanding loans to clear. Fortunately for us, we don’t have to worry about that as we our financial status is “Rich” now.
Hello Lye,
My goodness you didn’t mess about in the transfer market this season. I can’t beleive that you let so many players leave especially all those now familiar names. Having said that three great 1st team players brought in and with probably around 60m profit on transfers you have a little tucked away for Janaury too. Cool!!!
I know there is some risk involved in letting go so many first team players at the same time, that probably shows my confidence of the young players who will step up to take their position. 60m is good profit but soon it is being wipe off for the loans. Luckily we don’t have to rely on selling players to keep the club afloat.
Lye´s last [type] ..West Ham 2020/21 Pre-Season Report – Record Sales
Wow, a big clearout there Lye, a bit risky but you seem to have brought in some good replacements, in particular the two centre backs who will surely be the backbone of your defence for many years to come
Good win over City too, hopefully that’s a sign of the season to come.
The clear out has to be done sooner or later. I rather do it while the players command high fees rather than having difficulty offloading them in future. Hopefully we won’t feel any pain when the season ends.
Lye´s last [type] ..West Ham 2020/21 Pre-Season Report – Record Sales
You’ve had to let go quite some players who were clearly bringing a lot of focus and value to the first team, but it’s always a good idea to try and rebuild for the future and it’s better to start sooner rather than later.
So with the new signings looking amazing, with the results looking great in your first games, I am sure that you already know that you did a good decision and even though things might prove a little bit more difficult this season, I am sure that in the end you’ll still be crowned champion!
Oh, and congrats on reaching your 10th year in management
Calin´s last [type] ..Chieti Story, Preseason 2019 – 2020: And the New Players Are…
You are showing more confidence on the team than me Calin. I hope you are right. I have no doubts we will be challenging for the title. Probably it will be a close title race due to the fact we miss some experience in the squad.
Quite a bit of cash going out and especially coming in but the squad seems stronger now thanks to the good new players that you brought in. Congrats on the Community Shield and best of luck for the season!
Johnny Karp´s last [type] ..FM 2012 Charlton AFC story 2031-32: The final hurdle
Those players are surely going to walk straight into the first team so i guess front and back are more or less cover. I only let go one midfielder in Crisetig and i don’t have to bring in a replacement because we have plenty of options in that area.