West Ham Conclude Successful Winter Transfer Window Business

West Ham Conclude Successful Winter Transfer Window Business

Whilst Hammers fans will be questioning why they have come out the end of January without still a striker or a right-back, however, they can be content with the business done by messrs Sullivan, Gold and Brady over the last month.

With Angelo Ogbonna out for the season, having supposedly played with a niggle for some time now, the club moved swiftly to bring in European Champion Jose Fonte from Southampton, a trustworthy centre-half with five years’ worth of experience at the heart of a Premier League defence.

Another canny addition was that of Hull City’s main man, Robert Snodgrass, for an initial £7m fee which, for a top flight player in the inflated January market, is an outstanding deal.



No West Ham fan will have been happy with the revelations surround Dimitri Payet earlier in the window, of course – whatever is said – fans would rather he will still in east London playing for Slaven Bilic.

However, considering what has happened, the club have handled the matter with their French playmaker in remarkable fashion.

To bring in £25m for a 29-year-old who is clearly on his way out of the club whilst avoiding moving him to a Premier League rival is a pretty decent deal for all concerned.

However, perhaps the best deal engineered by the Irons in the winter window, is that of a player leaving the club, albeit on a temporary basis.

The deal taking youngster Reece Oxford on loan to Championship promotion chasers Reading may seem like a fairly bog-standard loan deal to get the defender a bit more playing time, whilst only being a short trip down the M4.

However, Bilic chose a move to the Madjeski, where Oxford will more than likely not be a first choice centre-half, over a deal with Nottingham Forest where game time would be much easier to come by.

This may, at first glance, seem a bit of a lapse in judgement on the part of the Hammers boss, however, when you take into account that the Royals manager is former Manchester United man, Jaap Stam.

A three-time Premier League winner with the Red Devils, the Netherlands international made over 170 appearances for Sir Alex Ferguson and was one of the most revered defenders of his time.

Furthermore, the way he has turned Reading around, after a string of below par seasons, to bring them back into the fold for Premier League promotion, whilst playing an attractive brand of football, suits the sort of setup Bilic will want his players accustomed to down the line.

West Ham fans may not have got the instant satisfaction that the signing of a striker brings, however, the long term benefits that could come from the Reece Oxford deal could make it one of the more impressive agreements from Deadline Day.