West Ham should reignite their interest in Sergi Gomez
According to claims from Spanish outlet El Desmarque, as cited by Football London, West Ham were interested in signing Sevilla centre-back Sergi Gomez in the summer transfer window.
The Hammers, though, failed to get a deal over the line for the 27-year-old defender, with the same report suggesting that fellow Premier League outfit Watford were also keen on securing the Spaniard’s services.
As well as interest from the Premier League, Gomez also had suitors from other leagues in Europe, with Russian giants CSKA Moscow and Italian club Atalanta believed to be amongst those to have monitored the former Spanish youth international in the summer. (h/t Football London)
West Ham, however, forked out a fortune to bring in French forward Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as Spanish playmaker Pablo Fornals from Villarreal, before the deadline in August.
The East Londoners were under pressure to rebuild their attacking unit following the departure of Marko Arnautovic, Lucas Perez, Andy Carroll and Samir Nasri, and manager Manuel Pellegrini spent a lion share of his transfer budget to recruit the likes of Haller and Fornals.
Furthermore, teenage centre-back Goncalo Cardoso and Swiss frontman Albian Ajeti were also brought in as project players as a part of the club’s long-term plans moving forward.
The summer signings, though, have so far failed to produce anything extraordinary, with the Hammers yet to register a victory in the Premier League after two games.
Pellegrini’s side kicked off their league campaign with a calamitous 5-0 defeat at the hands of reigning champions Man City and, whilst they somewhat managed to find their feet in the 1-1 draw against an impressive well-oiled Brighton side, it has to be said that things haven’t quite gone according to plan for the East Londoners in the opening stages of the campaign.
The likes of Haller and Fornals have teased the fans with a few occasional good touches on the ball but they are yet to hit the ground running.
However, keeping in mind that both the players are completely new to the English game, one would expect them to take some time to acclimatise to the highly competitive nature of the Premier League.
As well as the club’s woes up top, it doesn’t really take a rocket scientist to figure out that West Ham have looked quite vulnerable at the back in the first two games of the season.
Pellegrini’s side completely fell apart defensively in the defeat against Man City, whilst Brighton also threatened to exploit the loopholes on offer, only for some mediocre finishing to deny the Seagulls all three points.
West Ham didn’t really spend much to strengthen their defensive options this summer, with teenage prospect Goncalo Cardoso being the only new addition to the club’s backline.
Pellegrini had apparently deemed his existing centre-backs good enough to do the job in the Premier League but the likes of Fabian Balbuena, Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna haven’t necessarily justified such a stance thus far.
Keeping that in mind, West Ham should consider bringing in a quality centre-back when the transfer window reopens in January and reigniting interest in Sevilla’s Sergi Gomez could work wonders for Pellegrini.
A seasoned campaigner in the La Liga, the 27-year-old is very much in his prime years as a centre-back and he seemingly has the experience to add more steel, depth and substance to a backline that has shown signs of crumbling far too easily early in the season.
A tall and strong defender who excels with his technical abilities on the ball, game-reading attributes, as well as his positioning and aerial prowess, Gomez has a total of 143 La Liga appearances for the likes of Celta Vigo and Sevilla under his belt.
The Spaniard was one of the mainstays of Sevilla’s backline the last term and he is once again expected to play a key role for his club this season, meaning that the 27-year-old certainly won’t come cheap should the Hammers go back in the market for him in January.
However, Gomez has the knowhow to be an upgrade on West Ham’s current central defensive options and he might as well prove to be a good long-term solution to the club’s conundrum at the heart of the defence.
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With that in mind, the Hammers certainly need a reliable partnership at the back to challenge for a European spot this season and Gomez looks more than capable of delivering the goods at the London Stadium, something that the likes of Diop, Balbuena and Ogbonna haven’t done often enough in the recent past.