Why West Ham must avoid signing Victor Wanyama in January
According to a report from the Daily Mail, West Ham are interested in Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Victor Wanyama.
Tottenham are prepared to offload over £75million worth of players in the January transfer window as they polish up their squad. Victor Wanyama is one of the few players who Spurs are ready to offload next month.
West Ham have shown an interest in Wanyama, who joined Tottenham from Southampton back in 2016 for £11m. The Hammers have won four of their last seven games in the Premier League, although their latest game saw them endure a 2-0 defeat at Burnley.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have been severely hit by injuries, with the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere and Winston Reid being long-term absentees. Marko Arnautovic returned to the starting XI against Burnley after a month on the sidelines, but Javier Hernandez, Fabian Balbuena and Pablo Zabaleta still remain out.
The Hammers should take a dip in the winter transfer window to beef up their squad further to make a push in the second half of the season for at least a top-10 finish.
In that case, bringing in a central midfielder won’t do much harm as Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez continue to be sidelined, leaving Pellegrini with the likes of Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang and Declan Rice as the only options for this busy round of fixtures.
Victor Wanyama would be a really good option for West Ham but he has been struggling with niggling injuries for some time. In fact, he has been out with various knee problems over the past 18 months and has found it difficult to string a run of games together.
The 27-year-old has made only seven appearances for Spurs in the entire season so far, out of which four have come in the Premier League. Apparently, the Kenyan had fallen behind the likes of Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko at Tottenham this season, with the duo being impressive.
Over the past one and a half seasons, Wanyama has barely contributed to the first-team and has done nothing of note when he has been fit either. Clearly, Tottenham must try selling Wanyama in January and replace him with a player who is fit and healthy to contribute to the team’s cause week in and week out.
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Keeping that in mind, it would be wise for West Ham to avoid biting the Wanyama bullet. It would instead be better for Pellegrini to splash the cash on another midfielder to increase the depth of his squad.