http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article2129978.ece West Ham United will make a move for Ashley Young, who seems certain to leave Watford this month, should their attempts to sign Shaun Wright-Phillips for £10m from Chelsea fail. The Hammers have also had a £500,000 bid for Mark Viduka rejected, even though the striker - with his current contract expiring this summer - has now informed Middlesbrough he will not sign a new deal. If the Australian striker does not move to West Ham, who may increase their offer, he will sign a pre-contract agreement with an Italian club, thought to be Genoa. West Ham yesterday completed the £5m signing of Luis Boa Morte from Fulham and are set to hand the winger his debut in the FA Cup tie against Brighton today. Matthew Etherington is still expected to move to Fulham but, after a hitch on Thursday night, that deal may not be completed until later this month. West Ham, who believe they have the spending power to reach most of their transfer targets and are desperate to avoid relegation, are keen to make signings before they sell. They are expecting most of the departures to happen in the summer rather than now. A deal remains in place to sign Wright-Phillips, with Chelsea understood to have accepted the fee on offer, but the winger wants to stay at Stamford Bridge. West Ham have said they will match the £50,000-a-week wages he earns at Chelsea but, yesterday, Wright-Phillips was still telling friends he believed he has a future with the Premiership champions. If West Ham cannot persuade him to move, they will turn their attentions to Young. Watford have already rejected three offers for the England Under-21 international. Tottenham - who are understood to have offered Calum Davenport and Wayne Routledge in exchange - Arsenal and Aston Villa are interested along with Liverpool. Despite the stiff competition, it may well be that West Ham are the only club willing to pay the £5m-plus that Watford are seeking for the player. West Ham are planning at least five new arrivals and last night it appeared that they were about to hijack Charlton's deal to sign their former midfielder Alexei Smertin. The Russian international has fallen out with his club, Dinamo Moscow, over wages and is keen to return to the Premiership. Charlton held talks with him before Christmas but West Ham have now stepped in. If Smertin signs, it will probably end West Ham's interest in West Bromwich's Nigel Quashie. West Ham enquired about another West Bromwich player, John Hartson, but it is unlikely that deal will go ahead, while Blackburn's Lucas Neill has told them he is moving either to Liverpool or Newcastle. West Ham were also keen to sign Sylvain Distin, out of contract at Manchester City in the summer, and are willing to pay the £50,000 a week he is demanding. City are understood to have said they will not sell the defender and are prepared for him to leave for free. West Ham are still scouring the Premiership for a right-back but may turn to Juventus' French defender, Jonathan Zebina, who was close to joining Spurs last year. West Ham are not interested in Birmingham's Matthew Upson and have not made a move for Spurs' Anthony Gardner. Javier Mascherano is still expected to complete his move to Liverpool though the deal remains subject to Fifa agreeing dispensation for the midfielder. another thing from there is it looks like west ham are willling to sped alot to et out the bottom 3, bad news for us if they get anywhere with swp etc.
Supposedly six clubs have made bids for him. These are supposedly Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Villa, Sheffied Utd. and Everton. Does this now mean that West Ham might be the seventh, or could they, rather than Everton, have already made a bid? Either way, this seems like it's developing into a serious bidding war. Quite a few of us have questioned as to whether Ash is being over-rated, but clearly Premiership managers have seen something in him which they've liked a lot.
i think some of them are just bidding so he doesnt leave before theey can have a look at him first. we can just sitbak at wait for the first one to offer 8 million+ a good enough replacement.
With so many teams after him, it will be a bidding war, keep rejecting untill it go ridiculously high ;D
West Ham are only interested if they don't get SWP from Chelski. Apparently WHam and Chelski have agreed the fee but SWP doesnt want to move. WHam have even agreed to pay his £50000 / week salary (who thinks Collins John is asking for too much?). Upside of selling Ash to WHam is that we could get a decent player exchange (Harewood or Zamora or Cole maybe) - downside is tat they are relegation rivals.
west ham now in for young? indepedent West Ham go for Young after Viduka move stalls By Jason Burt Published: 06 January 2007 West Ham United will make a move for Ashley Young, who seems certain to leave Watford this month, should their attempts to sign Shaun Wright-Phillips for £10m from Chelsea fail. The Hammers have also had a £500,000 bid for Mark Viduka rejected, even though the striker - with his current contract expiring this summer - has now informed Middlesbrough he will not sign a new deal. If the Australian striker does not move to West Ham, who may increase their offer, he will sign a pre-contract agreement with an Italian club, thought to be Genoa. West Ham yesterday completed the £5m signing of Luis Boa Morte from Fulham and are set to hand the winger his debut in the FA Cup tie against Brighton today. Matthew Etherington is still expected to move to Fulham but, after a hitch on Thursday night, that deal may not be completed until later this month. West Ham, who believe they have the spending power to reach most of their transfer targets and are desperate to avoid relegation, are keen to make signings before they sell. They are expecting most of the departures to happen in the summer rather than now. A deal remains in place to sign Wright-Phillips, with Chelsea understood to have accepted the fee on offer, but the winger wants to stay at Stamford Bridge. West Ham have said they will match the £50,000-a-week wages he earns at Chelsea but, yesterday, Wright-Phillips was still telling friends he believed he has a future with the Premiership champions. If West Ham cannot persuade him to move, they will turn their attentions to Young. Watford have already rejected three offers for the England Under-21 international. Tottenham - who are understood to have offered Calum Davenport and Wayne Routledge in exchange - Arsenal and Aston Villa are interested along with Liverpool. Despite the stiff competition, it may well be that West Ham are the only club willing to pay the £5m-plus that Watford are seeking for the player. West Ham are planning at least five new arrivals and last night it appeared that they were about to hijack Charlton's deal to sign their former midfielder Alexei Smertin. The Russian international has fallen out with his club, Dinamo Moscow, over wages and is keen to return to the Premiership. Charlton held talks with him before Christmas but West Ham have now stepped in. If Smertin signs, it will probably end West Ham's interest in West Bromwich's Nigel Quashie. West Ham enquired about another West Bromwich player, John Hartson, but it is unlikely that deal will go ahead, while Blackburn's Lucas Neill has told them he is moving either to Liverpool or Newcastle. West Ham were also keen to sign Sylvain Distin, out of contract at Manchester City in the summer, and are willing to pay the £50,000 a week he is demanding. City are understood to have said they will not sell the defender and are prepared for him to leave for free. West Ham are still scouring the Premiership for a right-back but may turn to Juventus' French defender, Jonathan Zebina, who was close to joining Spurs last year. West Ham are not interested in Birmingham's Matthew Upson and have not made a move for Spurs' Anthony Gardner. Javier Mascherano is still expected to complete his move to Liverpool though the deal remains subject to Fifa agreeing dispensation for the midfielder.
I can't see Ash swapping us for the Spamemrs unless there's a lot of cash in it for him. There is also the risk that he may be a bench warmer, which he's probably prefer to be at one of the top sides. I think the best offer we get will be from a top club, 6/7M but have him loaned back to us until the end of the year.
if west ahm were paying him 500 000 a week and went down they would be cripppled. the icelandic chairman is just giving him all the money wants and doesnt realise the risks
As Ashley is from Stevenage and all his family live here I would think he would be happier to stay in the London area.
I see Carlton Cole scored a nice goal yesterday. He would be a great replacement for Henderson and would be a good swap as part of an Ash deal. I don't think that it would be a great move for Ash though.
If he does go id like to see him be a big success and moving to west ham would be a bit risky for him. Getting cole part of the deal would be great if he did decide to go there.
