New Hammers signing Nikola Vlasic will wear number 11 for the club, the squad number previously held by Jesse Lingard. Much was made of Hammers interest in bringing in Lingard back to the London Dome following his incredibly successful loan spell during the 2nd half of last season, unfortunately Jesse elected to try and regain his place in the Manchester United team he had been excluded from for the last couple of years.

Hammers centre back Issa Diop represented France all the way to U-21 level, but then seeing his opportunities to play for France very limited chose to switch allegiances to Morocco. He would have travelled to Guinea to take part in Morocco's World Cup qualifier, but because he was not selected in time he was not able to join up with the rest of the squad.

Now that the transfer window has finally 'slammed' shut, fans of all clubs will be pondering the successes and failures of their transfer strategy, some will be happy, some will not. For those fans who fall into the latter category, Newcastle fans for example, there is always the dreaded out of contract option, a path well trodden by West Ham in the past!

As PR campaigns go, PAI(n)'s media assault on West Ham got off on the wrong foot, they have been shooting at their own ever since as their 'charm' campaign has continued to lurch from one crisis to the next. Citing Rio Ferdinand as a Hammers legend was a faux pas of the highest order, but subsequent statements from what is essentially a hedge fund company have done little to add glister to their gold.

Players arriving with a point to prove generally fall into two categories, those who were too young first time round and those who are too old on their return, fortunately new Hammers signing NiKola Vlašić falls into the former.

With the limited funds available West Ham managed to acquire almost all of their transfer targets before the window closed, strengthening in all areas bar one. The conundrum facing David Moyes was how to plug all the gaps, to this purpose the Irons manager was pragmatic and realised he would have to use almost all of his budget and risk having to pay 'destabilising wages' in order to bring a bona fide top striker to the club. He therefore decided to use the money elsewhere by fortifying the defence while adding to squad's firepower with an attacking midfielder.

When it comes to criticising the club's owners, we have been as vociferous as many other West Ham fans sites. But we are westhamfans.org and have focused rightly on the mistakes of the past decade made by the co-owners, which included pointing out some painful home truths. However we are not so blinkered or absorbed in our dislike of the board that we pursue a negative agenda irrespective of the truth, therefore it is with great delight that we shall be sitting down to eat some Umble Pie!

Here we go, Jim 'Brown Nose' White will have his yellow tie and pink shirt on later as he takes his traditional role up as Sky and Talksport's Anchor man. Hammers have been busy, who else will join Alphonse Areola, Kurt Zouma and Nikola Vlasic?

When we use the term giraffe in association with Hammers centre back Issa Diop, it is generally a jovial reference to his height and his gait, but we have used it in this article's headline because there are rumours, which first surfaced a couple of weeks ago, that Crystal Palace want to sign Diop, ON LOAN!

There are cheeky bids and there are cheeky bids, Palace's falls into the incredibly cheeky bracket, why on earth would David Moyes want to leave himself with just three centre backs to get through an entire campaign that sees the club competing in FOUR competitions?

West Ham have announced the signing of Nikola Vlašić, The Croatia international joins from Russian club CSKA Moscow on a five year contract. The deal is reportedly worth £25.72 Million with another £7.7 Million in potential add-ons.

The vastly experienced Vlašić, despite being just 23 years of age, has already played more than 250 senior matches and has also established himself at international level having made 26 appearences for Croatia and played his part for his country at Euro 2020.