Eight months ago you’d have got long odds on Borussia Monchengladbach missing out on a place back in the Champions League. And, at the same time, the prospect of West Ham securing a place among the Real Madrids, Bayern Munichs and Juventus’ of the world felt even more fanciful.
But, with just two months of the season remaining, David Moyes’ high-flyers are within touching distance of the Premier League’s top four while Gladbach drift ever further into mid-table mediocrity.
A run of four defeats in five – and three in a row – means one of Germany’s most historic footballing institutions is ten points adrift of fourth-place Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bayer Leverkusen, who snaffled three hard-fought points away from the Bay Arena on Saturday, are seven points ahead of Marco Rose’s side in fifth too.
And it would be no exaggeration to suggest missing out on European football would be a disaster for this Gladbach side, signalling the end of an exciting era that promised so much but looks destined to end in ignominy.
The much-admired Rose has already agreed to take over at Dortmund in June and, according to BILD, that will only be the start of the exodus.
BILD claims star players Denis Zakaria, Florian Neuhaus, Matthias Ginter and Marcus Thuram are all likely to depart if Gladbach are unable to claw their way back into the European places.
So where do West Ham come into all this?
Well, one of Gladbach’s star players has been a target for the Hammers since he was banging in goals alongside Mario Balotelli at Nice in 2018.
Three years after West Ham failed with a £27 million bid for Alassane Plea (Sky), the Mirror claims the classy Frenchman is still taking up space on the world’s longest shortlist, with West Ham still scouring the market for Sebastien Haller’s sucessor.
Like Zakaria and co, the £30 million-rated Plea is expected to look for an escape route out of Gladbach when a disappointing 2021/22 season comes to an underwhelming end.
And, if West Ham are serious about finally landing their most long-term transfer target, the chance to play Champions League football at the London Stadium may be all the encouragement Plea needs.
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