Why West Ham United should keep hold of £2million Brighton target and not let him go

Why West Ham Should Keep Hold Of James Collins Despite Brighton Interest

James Collins’ first appearance for West Ham came way back in 2005 and after leaving for Aston Villa in 2009, he returned to West Ham in 2012. The Welsh international clearly loves the East London club, however, as things stand, he may well not be at the London Stadium by the end of the transfer window.

Brighton are interested in a £2million deal for Collins, whose contract runs out in the summer and there also seems to be no indication from the Hammers board that they will be willing to offer him a new deal. So if they wish to cash in on a player with little resale value, now would be the time to do it.

It is very hard to guess the thoughts of the West Ham owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, but they are clearly gambling on the fact that they will have enough defensive options to let Collins go. If they were able to get any money from his sale, they could put that towards solving their forward line problems.

Collins has only played 7 games for the Hammers this season, with his personal record being 3 wins, 3 draws and only 1 loss. Perhaps a leader in the dressing room like Collins might not be someone that West Ham would want to let go of to a relegation rival at this stage of the season.

Should Collins stay, he will likely play only a bit part role in West Ham’s effort to stay up. However, with the recent injuries to Lanzini and Arnautovic (admittedly in different positions to Collins) show that it is all hands to the pump for the players at West Ham and David Moyes will be looking to bring players in rather than let anyone go out.

The decision at the end of the day rests with a board who have not made the best choices in recent years. Joe Hart has been an unmitigated failure and keeping James Collins may be a way to keep a set of fans happy.

On the other hand, he is not getting any younger and the future of this team lies in the hands of players like Declan Rice rather than James Collins. It is a very tough call and one that David Moyes and the West Ham board will have to make soon. They can’t afford to get it wrong again though.