West Ham

Last season between Zaza, Calleri and Fletcher, a single deflected goal was scored in the PL Between them. If he scores more than that he will be considered an upgrade on last season. But I would expect him to score 10. Especially if he is playing off Andy Carroll

lassassinblanc wrote: He spent two years with Leverkusen, where they finished 3rd and then 12th that was the first time since 2008/09 that they finished outside the top 5 hardly mid table.

Bayer are 11th in the all-time Bundesliga Tables:
http://www.worldfootball.net/alltime_table/bundesliga/

lassassinblanc wrote: His release clause was 16m, set probably by him

If so, then a bigger/wealthier/more confident club would have paid him to drop the low release clause (or at least impose a higher one).

Anyhow, I'm not writing him off, but I suspect RB has got it right when he thinks people may be going a bit over the top on this.

Roberto Baggio wrote: Territorial wrote: When you saw a young Hernandez signing for two huge clubs like Man U or Real Madrid, you'd have had to think he could be top class. But although he did OK there, in the end Man U didn't keep him and Real didn't sign him permanently either. Now after four years with a mid table German side, he's signing for a mid-table English one, and for a "mid-table" fee at that, when he's just turned 29 i.e. when he should be at his peak. If WHU get 15 League goals a season out of him they'll be doing well for their money.   Fair points. Some people maybe going over the top about this signing

id agree. Signing of the summer etc etc

Considering the alternative was Andre Gray, I'm happy with Chicarito

His goals per minute ratio is one of the highest in the PL. Considering West Ham were going for Scott Hogan for around the same price in January but decided to wait till summer this is a great signing. The amount of poor strikers West Ham have signed since Gold and Sullivan took over has been ridiculous

The 32 statistic actually has some context to it, not that it excuses some of the utter failings. Carlton Cole was re-signed in 2013, Mladen Petric was brought in on a short term deal, Wellington Paulista never actually played a first team game for the club, Jelevic played for six months, Zaza was signed on a deal which mandated purchase after 11 games. Some were signed on deals with the hope of progression to the first team, which never materialised such as Brian Montenegro, and Robert Hall. Jannai Gordon is still in the youth setup. Others like Nicky Maynard and Sam Baldock were deemed surplus at a time of great reconstruction for the club. Players like Mobido Maiga and Victor Obinna were utilised on the wing. Robbie Keane suffered one of the very few injuries of his career while on loan at the Club, and missed the guts of two months of his loan spell. Marco Borriello also suffered an early injury which effectively put him out of action. Ashley Fletcher still has time on his side.

Territorial wrote: lassassinblanc wrote: http://www.worldfootball.net/alltime_table/eng-premier-league/pl-only/ So in that sense Newcastle are better than Man City http://www.worldfootball.net/alltime_table/fra-ligue-1/ PSG are a mid table French Club So far this window, Bayer have sold 5 players for €59.3m (plus released another handful on frees). The top three sales were Hakan Calanoglu to Milan (€22m), Chicarito (€17.8m) and Omar Toprak to Dortmund (€12m). Meanwhile they've signed two players for a fee, Sven Bender from Dortmund (€12.5m, effectively a swap for Toprak) and Dominic Kohr from Augsberg (2m). https://www.transfermarkt.com/bayer-04-leverkusen/alletransfers/verein/15 Imo, that demonstrates the scale and status of the club. In fact, in English terms I'd say they're pretty much a West Ham, only with less money.

They exercised the buyback clause for Kohr if he was to go to any other club he would have been worth at least 10-12m.

Sven Bender was in the last year of his contract hence the low fee.

Similar to the players they sold Toprak and Hakan were in the last year of contract. Hakan hadn't played in 6 months due to ban 22m is an absolute steal for him tbh, they could have demanded at least double that figure again had he not been in last year of his contract.

I do think Bayer will struggle though this season unless they bring in a striker to replace Hernandez.

I'll end the argument there because it's obvious you are just throwing figures out there for the sake of having an argument.

Het-field wrote: The 32 statistic actually has some context to it, not that it excuses some of the utter failings. Carlton Cole was re-signed in 2013, Mladen Petric was brought in on a short term deal, Wellington Paulista never actually played a first team game for the club, Jelevic played for six months, Zaza was signed on a deal which mandated purchase after 11 games. Some were signed on deals with the hope of progression to the first team, which never materialised such as Brian Montenegro, and Robert Hall. Jannai Gordon is still in the youth setup. Others like Nicky Maynard and Sam Baldock were deemed surplus at a time of great reconstruction for the club. Players like Mobido Maiga and Victor Obinna were utilised on the wing. Robbie Keane suffered one of the very few injuries of his career while on loan at the Club, and missed the guts of two months of his loan spell. Marco Borriello also suffered an early injury which effectively put him out of action. Ashley Fletcher still has time on his side. The likes of Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia, Ricardo Vaz Te, Freddy Piquionne, Ilan, and Mauro Zarate have all had various degrees of success. The problems have been with the likes of Mido, Benni McCarthy, Chamakh, Emineke, Carew, and Calleri, who I feel had the opportunity available to them, but it was never taken. Emineke and Carew actually scored goals, but the others didn't and that has been the main bone of contention. However, most were on loan deals or short term deals, and the Club was never tied to them. Im not saying this in absolution, but in context, which makes me wonder just how badly WHU stack up against other clubs in terms of striker purchase.

coyne wrote: Sead Hakšabanović. Can't wait for Paul Merson to try pronounce this one.