For many, the noise about a certain Dutch midfield target has come from nowhere in the last 48 hours to dominate headlines, with the ‘he is signing-no he isn’t’ saga already becoming a typical West Ham United tale of stop, start, stop, start, rumour and counter rumour. We hope that in contrast to many West Ham stories of ‘what might have been’, this one actually progresses in the last weeks of the transfer window. The player in question has already been the subject of reported interest from Leicester City and Brighton in reports which initially surfaced last year.
What is all the fuss about? Young Dutchman Ezechiel Banzuzi hasn’t been prominent on the West Ham rumour radar for long. Still just under 20 years old, the tall – 1m 90 – young midfielder already has over 100 senior appearances to his name in the Belgian top flight so is most certainly a seasoned first-teamer rather than a debutant. He operates as a midfielder predominantly on the right, with, according to scoutingstats.ai, “Excellent goal efficiency and threat metrics showing Banzuzi’s potential as a goalscoring midfielder”.
Which is sadly lacking at West Ham right now. He’s certainly not the finished article but has great strength winning a high proportion of aerial duels and is “primarily active in the midfield third, suggesting a box-to-box style of play, but there’s room for more activity in advanced positions.”
For the price discussed, Banzuzi would have been an outstanding addition of pace and power – desperately needed by the Hammers as we’ve seen only too frequently this season – yet still with rough edges to be coached. A cursory look over his injury record shows only a 2 game-miss with a hamstring tweak: Nothing to worry about there in his fledgling career.
A perfect Graham Potter recruit, it would seem, who had the basics and could have got better and better over the next couple of years under the guidance of the coaching team at West Ham. It is difficult to know just who to believe right now: Sky jumped the gun claiming he was en route for a medical but the communication from within West Ham yesterday advised that Banzuzui’s club had vetoed the deal. Call me cynical but, with all things football, as usual, it is probably down to money. With a squad looking like a Swiss cheese just now, Banzuzi would have offered exactly what West Ham have missed this season: Pace, power, forward running and goal threat.
And if the bid turns out to be another ‘epic fail’ – where do West Ham turn next? The usual rumours persist around Carney Chukwuemenka and James McAtee: One being increasingly linked with other clubs and the other looking likely to stay at Manchester City. There’s still two weeks to the window but I cannot help a little voice in my head telling me there’ll be no new arrivals this winter. I hope it is wrong.
