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It's Free-Sullivan's First Pellegrini Signing-More To Come After Fredericks

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 07:59

West Ham landed their first signing under new manager Manuel Pellegrini with Ryan Fredericks having agreed to join on a free transfer, the right back earned promotion to the Premier League with Fulham last season but has signed a four year deal having turned down a contract extension in January when the club refused to meet his demands of becoming the highest paid player at Craven Cottage. For David Sullivan getting Fredericks on a free transfer represents a bit of a coup, in fact there are many that are saying the £25 Million transfer fee saved on the deal is almost exactly the same amount of money that the club has commited to paying Pellegrini in wages for the duration of his three year management contract.

25 year old Fredericks will officially join the club on July the 1st and told the whufc.com website: "It’s amazing for this deal to finally happen. I know we’ve been speaking about it for a while and trying to get things in place and finally, we’ve got it over the line. I’m just buzzing to be here. West Ham United is one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League. Everyone knows the history of West Ham and there’s a lot of factors that brought me to the club. Obviously, it’s an exciting time for West Ham. The club have just brought in a new manager in Manuel Pellegrini and everyone knows his CV and what he has done in England before and in other leagues as well. I’m sure I can learn a lot from him. It just felt like, for the next step of my career, I would be best suited coming here."

Pellegrini is additionally quoted as saying “I am very pleased to welcome Ryan to West Ham United as our first signing this summer. He joins having had a successful season with Fulham and is a player who will bring great qualities to our squad. He has good experience, with more than 150 senior appearances already but, at 25, he is still a young player with his best years ahead of him. Ryan has good character, is hungry to succeed, and has shown me that he has great desire to be a West Ham United player. I look forward to working with him.”

The fact that the first major signing of the Pellegrini era is a free transfer should probably get the 64 year old Chilean's suspicions aroused, in his homeland he has been quoted as saying "The challenge with West Ham is spectacular. Now I will force the owners to form a competitive team because they are rich but careful with money. We are trying to get the owner to loosen up to make an important investment and thus bring the players we need. The idea is to sign a great figure. If we manage to get a big figure it is very important for the status of the club because that will help convince other players."
One player Pellegrini has ruled out a move for is his compatriot, Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Brav, he said: "Signing Bravo for West Ham is not viable either. It is not in West Ham's salary possibilities."

Welcome to West Ham Mr Pelligrini, where the word free is sacred! - Ed

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asheshammer's picture

He's a Sullivan signing for sure, but let's not knock everything Sullivan does: Fredericks on a free is a no-brainer. One caution for me: the Championship is a lot of run and gun, and Fredericks has pace to kill, but will he be able to make the pinpoint crosses? Will he develop the finesse so important to a deadly attack in the Premier League? Let's hope so.

The crucial thing is for Sullivan to be able to oversee a BALANCED transfer policy. Not every signing has to be a bargain like this. Take the Anderson signing now being mooted. If it rises to £40M -- well, that's a lot of dosh. But it sure would give us some dominance on the right. And if it's true that Antonio is on his way, then surely he'll go for no less than £15M, making the Anderson deal a net £25M. Not so bad looked at that way.

I'd like to see us keep Super Mario as well. Imagine Lanzini, Mario, and Anderson with Arnie and Cheech up front. We would have a serious attacking threat.

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This Fredericks fella is a good player,i watched him in the play offs,he is quick and reckon he will adapt well in the premier league,free or not this is a good signing.

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