The Rebuild

[sam of the south]

Yeah, I guess.

Can see him being an ever present, though.

[Cereal Killer]

Didn’t they turn down £15m though?

That’s already too much

[blueforyou]

I am not dead against signing him, not a bad addition and has proved to do well under Moyes

[Escalator]

Bit of a let down.

He's not the profile we need at all.

Smacks of Moyes just wanting his man because he has worked with him before.

Need a proper DM.

Don’t think Moyes is unprofessional enough to just sign players because he has worked with them before, nobody wanted to sign Keane or Garner yet we’d be fucked without them.

[TheRam]

Would be happy with him.

Desperately missing physicality and the ability to win second balls in there.

[Toshyboy]

At this stage in the window it’s what you can get, the young big future players aren’t moving this late without the seller getting replacements first, so makes sense to go with what Moyes knows rather than a pure punt on someone an agent is pushing that’s available along as the finances are sensible. Within that people need to accept modern day prices. Thirty or forty mil is new fifteen to twenty of when we last had money. It’s standard for a regular starter in the Prem

[Silas]

The epitome of a do a job signing but it's not like we don't need that, it's just uninspiring. Can't complain about that when we've brought in the likes of Hall, Barry and Grealish though.

[sam of the south]

I know he’s a unit and he notches a few, but what’s his ball winning and passing stats like?

Can he sit and screen effectively?

[AjaxAndy]

Can play instead of Gana in the box to box, can play instead of KDH in the 10, can sit instead of Garner although probably not as effectively as he plays in other midfield roles. Probably plays every week instead of Gana when he's at AFCON giving us premier league quality rather than playing Tim.

Scored 9 from midfield last season, 7 the season before, adds height, clearances and blocks in the 97th and 99th percentile respectively.

If he comes in we're starting to ask questions of who plays and who misses out, which is an odd and weirdly uncomfortable feeling, but it's the fact we'd have a squad with capable replacements which we've not had for ages.

Unfortunately the downside is he's not the sitter we desperately need. However we probably don't have the money left for someone who can just step in and immediately make a difference so we'll play Garner there, which is fine for now because whilst not ideal we can ask Soucek or Gana to do it if Jimmy G is injured or needs a rest.

Next summer splash the cash on a mega DM who massively improves us and Soucek takes over from Gana.

[StirlingBlue]

I know he’s a unit and he notches a few, but what’s his ball winning and passing stats like?

Can he sit and screen effectively?

It’s a rough read

[sam of the south]

Jesus

[StirlingBlue]

For the sake of fairness if you look back before last season (when he played as a CAM) then his tackling and intercepting stats were much better (75th percentile) but his passing has been truly awful every season since he joined West Ham

[brap2]

Can play instead of Gana in the box to box, can play instead of KDH in the 10, can sit instead of Garner although probably not as effectively as he plays in other midfield roles. Probably plays every week instead of Gana when he's at AFCON giving us premier league quality rather than playing Tim.

Scored 9 from midfield last season, 7 the season before, adds height, clearances and blocks in the 97th and 99th percentile respectively.

If he comes in we're starting to ask questions of who plays and who misses out, which is an odd and weirdly uncomfortable feeling, but it's the fact we'd have a squad with capable replacements which we've not had for ages.

Unfortunately the downside is he's not the sitter we desperately need. However we probably don't have the money left for someone who can just step in and immediately make a difference so we'll play Garner there, which is fine for now because whilst not ideal we can ask Soucek or Gana to do it if Jimmy G is injured or needs a rest.

Next summer splash the cash on a mega DM who massively improves us and Soucek takes over from Gana.

"Takes over from Gana"

Honestly what are you watching

[AjaxAndy]

"Takes over from Gana"

Honestly what are you watching

Spend big on a proper DM and Soucek can play the box to box perfectly fine.

Unless you think we're spending £40m on a DM and then another £40m on a Gana replacement? Because if you do I think you'll be extremely disappointed.

And when I said take over from Gana I'm obviously not advocating he plays as a midfielder heat seeking missile, it's not a like for like replacement and it wouldn't need to be because we'd have invested heavily in a 23 year old Gareth Barry regen to play as a DM monster reducing the need for a ball winning CM.

[Bob Sacamano]

Are we all forgetting how utterly shite Garner has been aside from putting in a shift at left back and not embarrassing himself against Mansfield?