West Ham today finalised the deals of Francis Coquelin and Joey O'Brien, with Coquelin joining from Arsenal for £1.9 million whilst O'Brien leaves to Cardiff for £400,000. Both deals were confirmed at the same time although it is thought the O'Brien deal has been in the pipelines for a week or so.

Coquelin follows Mathieu Flamini across London to West Ham after he returned from loan at Burnley to find himself transger listed by Arsenal. West Ham were more than willing to pay the small fee to bring the French defensive midfielder to the club for the next 4 years.


Meanwhile the sale of Joey O'Brien hasn't surprised anyone, with the arrival of Branislav Ivanovic confirmed speculation that the Irish right back would be moved on. After playing 17 games in 2013/14 and just 6 last season, he will now move to recently promtoted Cardiff on a £13,750 per week deal to resurrect his career.

The signing of Coquelin brings West Ham's expenditure up to £10.4 million, although it is expected they will still be able to make at least one more deal before the window slams shut.

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Quality last 2 signing!

Shame that Ivanovic is so grossly underrated in FM.

(Does Coquelin have an update due to his real life form increase?)

Two great signings.

Maximus I don't think so, I'm using the January update

mo_123 Yessir indeed

In a highly unexpected move, Lucas Leiva will sign with West Ham on a 4 year deal after his transfer listing at Liverpool. The 28 year old found himself on the outer despite playing 18 games last season and the Hammers have payed just £4.7 million for his services.

Lucas was somewhat of a crowd favourite at Anfield after playing 6 seasons at the club, continuing to be a solid contributor up until last season. Now he will look to end his top level career at West Ham, helping the club as they aspire to making continental qualification this season.


However, the signing of Leiva will jeopardise the game time of young Spanish midfielder Diego Poyet, and after an impressive debut season in the Premier League, he will now join Sevilla on loan for the 2014/15 season. The 20 year old will play in his native country for the first time, and the experience of playing against clubs such as Real and Barca should aid his development greatly after doing so well against United and Chelsea last season.

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Hopefully Poyet will improve at Sevilla and return to the Hammers to displace Coquelin or someone else!

That's a good signing! Although, with the injuries that he gets, Coquelin will get more games than you think!

Jer Yeah hopefully!

Tal Maybe, maybe

Coquelin and Lucas add a lot to the squad, especially the latter. That's a squad that is certainly strong enough for Europe!

Justice I hope so!

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/15/article-2394351-1B4F1C8C000005DC-130_634x445.jpg

Going into a vitally important season at the club, West Ham needed to get their squad right and find some form going into the Premier League campaign. It was a busy summer for transfers, whilst they played friendlies in England, Spain and Turkey.


After receiving a lacklustre transfer budget, Sam Allardyce set about increasing it, with the sales of Diafra Sakho and Aaron Cresswell to Burnley and Arsenal respectively. On release day, Carlton Cole, Sebastien Lletget and Raph Spiegel left the senior squad as well, boosting the wage budget considerably. Modibo Maiga was also on his way out, along with deadwood players Paul McShane and Joey O'Brien. Diego Poyet was the final departure, leaving for Sevilla on loan.

The first 3 transfers for Allardyce were all English youth, with Jesse Lingard, Ryan Mason and Marcus Bettinelli joining the club for a combined fee of £5.4 million. Man City outcast John Guidetti joined as the backup striker, whilst Mathieu Flamini, Branislav Ivanovic and Francis Coquelin all crossed London to play with the Hammers. Lucas Leiva was a surprise deal just before the season started.


The pre-season started in England in mid-July, defeating Spartak Moscow 2-0 before unexpectedly losing 5-3 to Bournemouth. A disappointing pair of results in Spain, with losses to Zaragoza and Levante, was followed up by a narrow home loss to Porto. West Ham finished off their pre-season on a high with a 2-0 win over Karabukspor.


The ex-United winger played all 6 games of pre-season, scoring 3 goals and getting 1 assist in a solid display. For now, he is still back-up to Downing but that could change over the course of the season.

Interested players brought you pretty much strengthened team! Good luck in the upcoming season!

Not the best of pre-season

It's an exciting time at West Ham right now, with a new look starting XI ready to contest the opening month of Premier League action. With 3 matches, plus a League Cup game, let's see how the Hammers went on in August.


Barclays Premier League
READING 3-0
Adrian, Ivanovic, Zambrano, Sviatchenko (inj Kouyate), Oviedo, Leiva (Poyet), Flamini, Noble, Ibe (Amalfitano), Downing, Valencia
Enner Valencia (x3)
Enner Valencia (West Ham)

It was a slow start, but eventually West Ham got a solid opening day win over promoted side Reading, with a superb Enner Valencia hat trick firing them to victory. The dominance of West Ham's wide players, especially Ivanovic and Ibe, was the main reason behind the Hammers' big win.

Barclays Premier League
BURNLEY 4-0
Adrian, Ivanovic, Zambrano, Tomkins, Oviedo, Leiva (Kouyate), Mason (Flamini), Noble (Amalfitano), Ibe, Downing, Valencia
Enner Valencia (x4)
Enner Valencia (West Ham)

After a slow start in the opening game, West Ham blew Burnley out of the water at Turf Moor. Enner Valencia tore the defence to shreds, scoring a hat trick in the first half and adding a fourth in the 62nd minute to finish with an incredible 4 goals for the match. Bryan Oviedo and Branislav Ivanovic once more had dominant displays on the flanks.

Capital One Cup 2nd Round
BARNSLEY 3-2et
Adrian, Lowton (Ivanovic), Kouyate, Collins, Hendrie, Coquelin, Flamini (Mason), Noble (Leiva), Amalfitano, Lingard, Guidetti
John Guidetti, Jesse Lingard, Ryan Mason
James Bailey (Barnsley)

After getting knocked out by Swindon in the second round of the cup last season, West Ham were keen to make it through this time and with a John Guidetti goal in the 17th minute would have been confident of doing so. However, Barnsley managed to snatch a 93rd minute equaliser from the corner to take the game to extra time. Jesse Lingard's 93rd minute goal was quickly nullified by Dean Moss and the game looked as if it would go to penalties. However, sub Ryan Mason squeezed through in the 121st minute to give the Hammers the 3-2 win.

Barclays Premier League
STOKE 2-1
Adrian, Ivanovic, Zambrano, Tomkins, Oviedo, Leiva (Kouyate), Flamini, Noble (Coquelin), Ibe, Downing (Amalfitano), Valencia
Enner Valencia (x2)
Enner Valencia (West Ham)

West Ham couldn't hit the target for the first half of this game, going into the break at 0-0, and Stoke punished them just after with a Kiyotake goal in the 48th minute, their first genuine chance of the match. The superb Valencia however took the game into his own hands, equalising in the 57th minute before firing home the winner in the 76th as West Ham continue their perfect record.


After 3 games, West Ham sit on top of the table and will be very happy with their start to the season. They're not aiming for a title of course, and with so many games to play there is only a minute chance they will stay in 1st, but this start will nonetheless please Allardyce going into some tougher fixtures.


Absolutely no doubt as to wins this award. Enner Valencia absolutely demolished everything that came in his way in the opening 3 games of the EPL, scoring a phenomenal 9 goals in just 3 games. Valencia has scored every goal of West Ham's league campaign so far and if he can continue this form for just another 10 games he will have had an elite season's worth of stats.


Ryan Mason twisted his ankle against Barnsley on the 25th of August and is expected to be out for a further 2 to 3 weeks.
Andy Carroll suffered knee tendonitis in training on the 21st of May and is expected to be out for a further 2 to 6 weeks.
Matt Jarvis suffered a serious viral infection on the 20th of March and is expected to be out for a further 4 weeks to 2 months.

Barnsley was probably more of a test than it should have been