The departures of Angelo Ogbonna, Kurt Zouma, and Nayef Aguerd in the summer left West Ham worrisomely thin in the defence this year.
While Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo were brought in by new manager Julen Lopetegui to cover for the absence of the injured player, the Spaniard now has fewer choices in central defence than he did before his arrival because Konstantinos Mavropanos is the only other starting centre-back.
After his contract expired, Ogbonna was free to join Championship club Watford, while Aguerd and Zouma were able to negotiate late transfer window loans to Real Sociedad and Al-Orobah, respectively.
Kilman cost £40 million to join from Wolves, while Todibo, who is originally on loan from OGC Nice, will ultimately sign a permanent deal worth approximately £35 million because of a “almost guaranteed” obligation to purchase clause in his contract.
That kind of business has undoubtedly upgraded the centre of West Ham’s defence, with Kilman starting the season in impressive form, Mavropanos performing well and France international Todibo expected to nail down a place in the starting XI eventually.
But one or two injuries throughout the season would currently leave Lopetegui lacking in experienced cover, with only youth academy star Kaelan Casey the only other centre-back currently with the first team. Casey only has two first appearances under his belt.
So it’s no surprise rumours continue to swirl that Lopetegui is scouring the free agent market for additional defensive cover, despite hinting in his pre-match press conference ahead of this weekend’s trip to Fulham that there are no plans to add any more players to his current squad.
He said: “The market is closed now, and we did the best we could to improve the squad all over the pitch.
“Some players left us, but we’ve brought in some great talent, and now we’re fully focused on the group we’ve got to help us going forward into the season.
“We’re not worried about one signing, or two signings, we’re concentrating on working together with on philosophy.”
But, contrary to Lopetegui’s comments, German news outlet, Ruhr24, claims the Hammers are in talks to sign former Liverpool defender Joel Matip on a free transfer.
Matip left Anfield at the end of his contract in June, despite Jurgen Klopp urging the club’s owners to offer him a new contract. But Klopp’s decision to leave Liverpool meant the club no longer felt under pressure to renew Matip’s terms, leading to the 33-year-old leaving.
The report coming out of Germany claims ‘further negotiations are pending’ between the Hammers and Matip’s representatives, while a report from Football Insider claims West Ham are ‘pushing to complete’ a deal to bring the Cameroon international to east London.
Should Matip agree to return to the Premier League with West Ham, it’s likely it will be in the knowledge he will not be first choice and will likely be the club’s fourth choice centre-back instead.
But his experience at Liverpool, undoubted quality and obvious winning mentality would no doubt be a huge asset to Lopetegui and the rest of the squad. During his eight years with Liverpool, Matip made 201 first team appearances and lifted the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League and Super Cup.
Bringing a player who has won literally everything there is to win at the elite level would be a huge boost to the kind of mentality Lopetegui will be looking to develop in his squad as he looks to build a team capable of consistently competing in European competition once again.
