Will Jordan Hugill Still Be A Hammer Against His Old Club?

West Ham United play Preston North End at Deepdale on Saturday the 21st of July at 3pm, whether this fixture was part of the deal that took Jordan Hugill to the London Stadium from Preston North End for an eye watering £10 Million remains to be seen, neutral observers let alone fans will have quickly worked out who got the best out of that deal. It is not Hugill's fault that he was a 'panic' buy back in the dark days when relegation was an extremely likely possibility, he was purchased with an eye to a mass player exodus in the event of the Irons dropping down in to the Championship.

Fast forward to now and West Ham United are suddenly cool again, the honest hard working Hugill really doesn't fit Manuel Pellegrini's template in any way shape or form despite apparently being a very affable young man. The fee paid for him was extortionate and West Ham will do well to recover even half of what they paid for him, so maybe just maybe El Pel might consider keeping Hugill as a battering ram plan C and getting rid of 'sick note' Andy Carroll.

Perhaps the Hammers medical team can perform a miraculous body conjoining that would give Carroll Hugill's fitness, or perhaps they will both be sold. Either way neither Carroll nor Hugill apppear to have any future at the club, it will just be a case of the getting the best money available from a team that is as blinded now as West Ham were when they purchased both of these players, Carroll in particular with one of the most astonishingly long and generous contracts that has ever been issued to an injury prone player, with the possible exception of the grand Guru of ridiculous contracts Sat Guru Dev Kieron Dyer.

If the club is to continue moving forward on the quite frankly amazing curve it is on, dead beats and dead weights will have to be jettisoned in abundance. These are exciting times for West Ham United and it's supporters and it really is a case of out with the old and in with the new, players will want to come to the London Stadium and it will be up to the board to ensure they do as much as they can to 'West Hamify' the Stadium to build on the incredible success of the transfer window.

Oft criticised, the London Stadium can be a really good venue, on certain occasions last season the atmosphere was amazing, equally there were times, particularly the Burnley game, when things were definitely not good. Much of the bad feeling related to failed player recruitment, not so this season one gets the feeling that future gripes will be more to do with issues like the colour of the pitch limits and the quality of the stewarding and the catering, both of which incidentally showed marked signs of improvement towards the season's end.

Time for a new beginning? - Ed