West Ham in the January transfer window

Whether you support West Ham or West Brom, Manchester United or Manchester City, we were all asking ourselves the same question over the past month. Who’s in and who’s out?

Us Hammers have been asking ourselves this question more so than others with the injury crisis our club has faced. According to PhysioRoom West Ham currently sit 7th in the ‘injury table’ with Sam Byram, Carl Jenkinson, Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini, Diafra Sakho and Angelo Ogbonna all out. Let’s not forget that Dimitri Payet, Winston Reid and Victor Moses were all also injured during this period.

Now it wouldn’t be a transfer window without the ‘West Ham prepare shock MEGA BID for X’ headlines. This window it was Sadio Mane and Daniel Sturridge. I mean, we already have two injury prone strikers and we’re expected to believe we’d buy another, in January, to solve our injury problems?!

Now that’s out of the way, let’s focus on who we actually brought in.

Our big signing of the window was Sam Byram from Leeds for a rumoured £3.6m. A relatively unknown player, Byram is mainly a RB but can also play further forward if needed. It was clear from the start of the season that Jenkinson was simply not putting in good performances to warrant his place in the starting XI and instead James Tomkins, a natural CB was starting at RB. We had to sign someone. Many (including me) thought that Byram was on his way to Everton after it was confirmed that he was in talks with them. But after failing to get him in the summer, David Sullivan confirmed that it was ‘now or never’ to sign Byram after it was known that Everton had moved for him. Byram’s debut wasn’t easy, coming on as a sub against one of the best teams in the league but he showed signs of his quality and is certainly an exciting signing for the future.

What would I give this signing out of 10? A 7.

With Carroll struggling to stay fit and Sakho being ruled out for three months with a thigh injury in December, a striker was crucial if we wanted to challenge for that Europe spot. Only one name came to mind, Charlie Austin. Yes, I know what I said earlier about Sturridge and injuries but Austin did play 35 games for QPR last season, scoring 18 times. For a mere £4m he certainly would have been a gamble worth taking, something David Sullivan himself has acknowledged. A striker who is already adapted to the tough demands of the Premier League, it would have been a great signing. Instead, West Ham signed Emmanuel Emenike on loan from Fenerbahce with an option to make it permanent. I’m not going to lie, I have seen very little of him but his name is very familiar to those FIFA players who love him for his pace, strength and power.

According to Squawka, Emenike has an ‘attack score’ of 10.96. This doesn’t make for great reading when comparing this to our current strikers Enner Valencia and Nikica Jelavic who have an attack score of 25.05 and 12.52 respectively. For a striker who scored 4 times in 27 appearances last season for Fenerbahce, it’s difficult to expect him to have a great impact but his pace off the bench may be crucial in changing the nature of the tough games we will face.

What would I give this signing out of 10? A 5.