West Ham United are likely to be active in the final week of this transfer window.
The Hammers are still in the market for a new striker, and they’re being linked with a loan move for Jesse Lingard.
Signing Lingard is certainly an interesting move, he’s been out of form for some time, but when he’s on his game, he’s a top talent.
However, the route West Ham are planning to take in order to sign Lingard makes very little sense.
Indeed, reports are circulating claiming that the Hammers are planning on making Said Benrahma’s loan move permanent this month in order to open up another domestic loan spot, and as an outside looking in, that looks foolish.
Now, we’re not saying that Benrahma shouldn’t be signed permanently, he’s a talented player and it’s a deal West Ham should definitely look at in the summer, but why would they waste £25m this month when they could free up a loan spot for much cheaper.
Indeed, the Hammers also have an option to buy Craig Dawson, who is their other domestic loanee, for a much more modest fee of around £3m, and with Dawson playing so well lately, that would make more sense, especially when he’s £22m cheaper.
West Ham need a striker through the door, and in order to do that, they need to have liquid cash to hand, and spending £22m more on Benrahma this month would just be reckless, especially when they can free up a loan spot for Lingard at a much more reasonable price.
Of course, West Ham will eventually pay the £25m for Benrahma, but in terms of balancing the books and timing their payments, surely they’d be better off doing that in the summer, and investing some of that cash in a striker this month.
It is possible that West Ham sign a striker this month and make Benrahma’s deal permanent, after all, we don’t know exactly how much cash they have lying around.
However, even when you’re thinking long-term this move makes hardly any sense, as it will add an unnecessary outgoing to their FFP figures from this season, when there is an option to defer that payment until the summer.
Signing Dawson permanently for £3m to free up a spot for Lingard makes infinitely more sense than spending an unnecessary extra £22m on Benrahma.
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