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Marouane Chamakh boost for West Ham
20.08.09
West Ham's hopes of signing striker Marouane Chamakh were boosted after Aston Villa joined Stoke in a £5million battle for Hammers defender James Collins.
Although West Ham have agreed a fee with Stoke, Collins is reluctant to move to the Britannia Stadium.
West Ham hope Villa will be a more attractive proposition for Collins as they need to sell the 25yearold before they can complete a deal for Bordeaux forward Chamakh.
Ideally West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola would like to keep Collins but he knows that Straumur, the investment bank who effectively own the club, have made it clear they must be self-financing.
Zola knows he is short of strikers with Dean Ashton's injury problems leaving only Carlton Cole, Savio Nsereko and youngster Zavon Hines available to play in attack.
Chamakh has also been a target for Arsenal but the proposed deal with West Ham includes an initial payment of £6m plus an extra £1m for each year of a five-year contract. There will also be a 20 per cent sell-on fee should he leave.
Reader views (2)
Sorry, but you think we can rely on a 17 year old and an injury prone striker?
Are you serious? We desperately need a striker, even if Ashton regains fitness (becuase history suggests it won't be for long) and Nouble manages to make the step-up.
It doesn't really mattet what he'd 'rather' do anyway, players don't often get the exact move they want and just because he isn't going to Arsenal, doesn't mean he won't be happy and succesful at West Ham.
- Scott, Essex
This sounds like a really bad deal for West Ham. £11mil and a 20% sell on fee as well as getting rid of Collins who is a decent defender? One player coming in who doesn't want to play for them and selling one who does. It sounds like a panic buy.
West Ham definitely need another striker but wouldn't it be better to try out Frank Nouble and get the other so called strikers scoring some goals, as well as the rest of the team, until Ashton is fit in a couple of months? They risk spending a lot of money and lose possibly their second best defender in a deal for a striker unproven in the premier league, who Arsenal refused to meet the level of the transfer fee and who sounds like he'd rather wait a season, leave on a free transfer and go to Arsenal anyway.
- Paul R, London
