West Ham waiting game may be flawed
According to Twitter ITK Fabrizio Romano, The Hammers are willing to delay bidding for Harry Maguire. The Italian journalist has suggested that a West Ham waiting game will ensue to force the Manchester clubs hand.
If I understand this correctly, the premise is to play a game of transfer chicken with Man U. West Ham will supposedly call their bluff, and force them to release their asset on the cheap.
I’m not sure how much truth there is in this nonsense, but for a moment let’s suppose it’s accurate.
The plan is a flawed one. Manchester United do not do business in this way and West Ham should know that better than anyone. Our beloved Hammers have tried to ‘smoke out’ Man U players on two occasions and each time it’s failed.
David Moyes fawned over Jesse Lingard for the best part of two years. However, with 6 months remaining on Lingard’s contract, The Hammers made Man U an offer they couldn’t refuse . . . . unfortunately they refused it and retained ‘J-Lingz’ for the length of his contract. The rest is history.
West Ham were also given a price for defender Aaron Wan Bissaka, but decided to play a waiting game. Whilst we were engaged in that particular ‘no blinking contest’, the right back forced his way back into Ten Hag’s team and as a result was unavailable for transfer.
Personally I’d give Harry a swerve. He appears to be engaged in a toxic PR battle with his employers, so it would be wise not to get involved.
However, if Moyes really does see Maguire as the missing piece of his jigsaw I’d advise against the Mexican stand-off. It didn’t work in the past and it may not work again.
