Good news: Matty Etherington has helped West Ham continue their unbeaten pre-season run with goal against Crystal Palace overnight.

Better news: Anton Ferdinand has signed a three-year contract extension. "Achieving promotion with West Ham United last season was the greatest moment in my career so far," said the young star. "Hopefully I can continue to play well this season and ensure that we stay in the Premier League. There is a fantastic atmosphere around the club."

Shaka Hislop has rejoined West Ham after leaving Portsmouth on a free transfer, just three years after departing Upton Park.
The Trinidad & Tobago veteran had been searching for a new club after being released by Pompey, and Hammers boss Alan Pardew has now afforded him the chance to reignite his Premiership career.
The 36-year-old has been an almost constant presence in the top flight ever since his move to Newcastle ten years ago, and had been on trial with Championship side Crystal Palace in a bid to prolong his playing days.
Hislop will now look to put pressure on fellow new recruit Roy Carroll and admitted to being delighted at his return to London after securing a one-year deal.
"It is great to be going back to West Ham," Hislop told stellargroup.co.uk.
"I had four great years there, really happy times.
"We had a successful team too, we finished in the top half of the table three seasons out of four and played some great football.
"It was a strange situation last season, I felt as though I was playing as well as I had done for a while, but sometimes when a new manager comes in he has different ideas and it was pretty clear I wouldn't be staying at the club beyond the end of the season.
"Now I am just looking forward to getting the boots back on again and competing for a place in the side.
"There are some good goalkeepers here and I will have to be on my toes, but I am confident in my ability and I know I am still good enough to be a very consistent goalkeeper in The Premiership." Palace had already withdrawn their interest in the experienced shot-stopper after failing to offload current second choice Julian Speroni, and chairman Simon Jordan previously indicated that Hislop was close to sealing a move.
"I think Shaka will sign for someone else - I do not believe we are doing a deal with him," Jordan told Sky Sports News.
"We have two goalkeepers and the idea was for one of them to depart before we signed another one.
"That situation has not manifested and, although I don't know whom Shaka will sign for, he is no longer playing for us."

The tabloids are reporting that Alan Pardew is making a move for former Hammer Shaka Hislop, who has been released by Portsmouth. I, for one, would love to see ole Shak back at the Boleyn - but not really for footballing reasons. He is still quite a good keeper, though probably not as good as when he was last with us. The problem is what happens now to Steve Bywater? The youngster really stepped up to the plate after David James left, and now it looks like he will fade into the background again, especially with Carroll in the team and then when Walker recovers. Football is harsh, I know, but surely he deserves a bit more of a chance. Surely Shaka won't sign just to play in the reserves or get loaned out - he would want to be on the bench at the very least. At any rate, if Bywater doesn't get into the first team this season, I hope he goes on loan (say, to a Championship club) but sticks with West Ham. I like the lad and think he will have a lot to offer us in years to come.

In other news, Marlon Harewood, like everyone involved with West Ham, is looking forward to the new season. "There's a buzz around the place and the spirit is fantastic," he told the Club's website. "The lads have been great in training, everyone is looking forward to the start of the season and you can feel the excitment around the Club. We feel that we've got a squad capable of doing well in the Premier League. Our first aim is survival, but the manager has made it clear that he wants more than that and there is plenty of belief in the squad that we can achieve a good finish. It won't be easy, it's a long season playing against some of the world's best players. But when you look at last season we always really enjoyed ourselves on the big occasions and put in some great performances against the top sides. This season every game will be a huge occasion and I think that will bring the best out of this squad."

West Ham has drawn 1-1 with 1860 Munich at the Allianz Arena. The Irons led at the break after Marlon Harewood scored from Matty Etherington's cross, but Harewood, Reo-Coker and Sheringham all wasted some chances and Munich fought back for the draw. All of West Ham's new signings played, with Roy Carroll and Danny Gabbidon in good form, while Yossi Benayoun made his debut. Squad: Carroll; Repka (Chadwick 74), Konchesky (Ward 60), Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Mullins (Licka 74), Newton, Sheringham (Benayoun 78), Reo-Coker (Dailly 60), Harewood, Etherington (Williams 74). Subs unused: Bywater (GK).

In other news reports are getting stronger that Czech U21 striker Petr Mikolanda will sign for the club after impressing as a triallist.

Finally, notice the new "Fixture Helper" at the top of the menu bar. It'll let you look at the time of the next fixture in local and London time, a countdown to the next fixture, and also the current time locally or in London. Took me hours to put it together, but by gum it's worth it.

According to the BBC site (link here), Spurs are claiming to have captured Edgar Davids. This was all a horrifying read until I noticed this little bit towards the end:

Hughton is also confident Davids is bound for White Hart Lane - despite still needing to agree personal terms and pass a medical.

So they haven't even agreed personal terms? Aren't they celebrating a little too early?

Anyway, I don't care if we don't get him - I just hope Spurs don't get him either.

Alan Pardew has told reporters that he has set the standards high for the new season, although he hasn't specified how high exactly.

"Some people have claimed that our aspirations are too high," he told the Club's official website. "Well, I don't think they can ever be too high and we're focused on bringing in the best squad of players that we can and achieving the best possible finish for the Club. The players and staff would not respond to me in the right way if I wasn't setting my sights as high as possible and wanting to get the very best for West Ham United."

Pardew has revealed that his aim is to get the squad together before the start of the season, rather than save funds for the January transfer window. He says, "It's very dangerous to try and hold back and plan for what's going to happen in January. You have to hold complete faith in the work you are doing now. If not then you have wasted half a season and the first half could be the most important half from our point of view. I want to have the best squad that I possibly can in place by the start of the season. Like everyone at the Club, I'm extremely excited about the new season and am determined to do West Ham United proud in the Premier League."

He is also pleased about the pre-season so far. "I felt the games we've had so far have been just at the right standard for us and we've performed well in all those games. More importantly we've come through with no injury problems and spirits in the squad are very high at the moment."

On the subject of Petr Mikolanda's possible signature, Pardew has dismissed reports that the deal is as good as done. "We haven’t made a decision on the trialists yet," he said. "I can’t comment until I have spoken to the players concerned."

Sorry for the c&p but I'm tired! This is from Sky Sports..... Or so I'm told!

Czech Republic striker Petr Mikolanda is expecting to sign for West Ham United after impressing on trial. The Hammers have agreed a deal with Mikolanda's club Viktoria Zizkov after the hit-man scored three goals in two pre-season friendlies. Mikolanda is returning to his homeland and is due to head back to England at the start of next week to sign a contract.

"It is great!" a cheery Mikolanda told CTK. "I will fly home to Prague tomorrow to go through all the necessary things and on Monday I have to come here again. Maybe the coach likes that I smile all the time but the smile would not have helped me if I had not been good on the pitch."

Mikolanda's agent Ondrej Chovanec is waiting to sift through the contract from Alan Pardew's side and is hoping the young hot shot can settle in The Premiership.

Chovanec told Idnes: "Maybe it was clear [that he will move to West Ham] before last Saturday's match. Coach Alan Pardew has been observing him before and he was satisfied with his performances. They did a lot to help him adapt. Now it will only depend on how Petr will accustom himself in such a difficult competition as The Premiership."

Meanwhile, West Ham are stepping up their interest in Belenenses defender Pele, who will cost in the region of €3 million (£2 million). Pele was watched by The Hammers in a pre-season friendly last week and a delegation from Upton Park is hoping to travel to Lisbon in the coming days to discuss a deal with Belenenses.

Yossi Benayoun has revealed his excitement about his move to West Ham in an earlier interview.

"It's a fantastic challenge to come to the Premier League and a dream move for me," he told the Club's official website. "It is the best league in the world, with some of the best players, and I am very grateful to West Ham United for giving me the opportunity to come to the Premiership. It's exciting for me to be playing at West Ham United and I am determined to do my best for the team in the coming season. The Club has only just been promoted, but the atmosphere is very positive and everyone, from the manager and coaches to the players, believes that we can achieve a good finish in the Premiership next season."

Yossi had no doubts about where he wanted to be and, importantly, the Club's ambitions had a part to play in his move. He said, "I knew Bolton Wanderers were also interested in me, but when I spoke to Eyal [Berkovic] about West Ham he said that this was the club to join. After that I had no hesitation in signing. I had already been very impressed with the ambitions of the Club and the plans of the manager, who is determined to help the Club progress on the pitch. Eyal also explained to me the passion of the West Ham United fans and the feeling of playing for such a crowd. After speaking to him I wanted to be a part of the team here and was delighted when the signing was agreed."

He also spoke of the physical demands of the Premiership, and his role as a player within the Club. "I know that the English league is very physical, but I believe in my ability to handle the pace of the game in England," he said. "I am delighted to be playing in the Premier League and I think that I can do a good job for the team. Strength is something I'm sure that I will work on during the coming weeks to make sure I am ready by the start of the season.

"I am mostly an attacking midfielder. That is where I have played for my previous clubs and also in international football. But my role is down to the manager and I will play wherever he asks me to. I know Teddy Sheringham is an excellent player and if I am competing with him for my place then it will be difficult. But there are lots of very talented players at the Club and I will just try to do my best to impress the manager.

"There are players at West Ham United who I can learn a lot from and hopefully I can do that over the season to improve as a player. There is a strong team principle at the Club and a desire to work for the good of the squad. That is definitely how it should be and I am looking forward to being a part of that."

You can read the entire interview here.

Yossi Benayoun is UEFA's Player of the Year Week, and you can read all about the brow-furrowing Israeli at this link. Not much that's new, but hey...

C&P Skysports

West Ham United new boy Yossi Benayoun has hit back at Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce.
Allardyce voiced his disappointment at Benayoun after missing out to West Ham for the Israeli's signature.
Benayoun has hit back at Allardyce's claims and revealed he did not join Bolton because he is not a fan of their tactics.
"Allardyce is talking nonsense. If my decision had been based on money, I'd have joined Bolton as I was offered bigger bonuses there," said Benayoun.
"It's true Bolton are in the Uefa Cup, but that's not everything.
"I didn't go to West Ham for the money - I went because they play good football and I know I can do well here.
"Bolton don't play the sort of football I like. I know about West Ham's style and how they like to pass.
"Newcastle also offered me a deal. But I love the fact West Ham are already counting on me as an important player."

The Hammers had to fight back twice to salvage this draw against lowly Yeovil after the home side initially took the Lead after just 3 minutes. The newly promoted league 1 side were determined to embarass the Hammers lofty Premier League status by inflictng defeat and twice took the lead with a goal inbetween from in form Czech trialist Petr Mikolanda. Yeovil went into the Break with a 2-1 lead and mid way through the second half Bobby Zamora had the oppotunity to restore parity from the penalty spot but spurned it. Zamora was to make amends with an equaliser in the dying minutes.

A worrying result that posibly shows the true position of our preseason although the side on display was a long way from what you would call our first team. With top names such as Etherington, Harewood, Sheringham, Yossi, Reo-Coker all mssing a truer test could be Wednesday nights clash vs 1860 Munich.

Hammers Team:

Bywater; McClenahan, Newton, Collins, Mackay, Fletcher, Dailly (Ward 80), Williams, Zamora, Mikolanda (Reid 68), Chadwick (Sofiane 45). Subs unused: Reed (GK), Blewitt.

West Ham target Benni McCarthy is said to be interesting Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho after failed bids for bigger names such as Adriano. I think we can knock that idea on the head then.

It looks like we're gonna sit around and watch all the top strikers get signed up - I think we should be making an early bid to ensure we get these type of players before the big guns snap them up. You watch what happens when Baros becomes available - Valencia and others will join the race and we'll miss out. I've been impressed with Pardew's signings so far, but we are still a quaility striker and midfielder away from being a Premiership club.

I'd like to see Baros come to West Ham but failing that I would be equally happy with either Johnson from Palarse or Ashton from Norwich. 6M should prise either of those 2 away from their clubs. Maybe Pardew is going to play a last minute blinder and bring one in on the cheap if they are still at their respective clubs on August 31st??

According to some threads on less reputable websites ;-) Zamora is discontented at the news that we are tracking another striker and maybe able to leave for the right fee.

If this is true I am not happy about this at all. I think he has proven in the playoffs that he is a capable goal scorer as well as providing and should be given a chance to prove himself at the club in the premier league regardless of who we sign. I would love a top class striker and I feel the more the merrier but we should not let Zamora go - he deserves a chance and we may regret it if he is allowed to leave.

.........to laugh at Birmingham.


Brann 4 Birmingham 0

Birmingham suffered a heavy 4-0 loss to Brann in the last game of their Norwegian tour as a near full-strength side failed to perform.

Well I think we all knew who it was really didn't we?

Skysports C&P.

Alan Pardew has confirmed that West Ham will be bidding for Liverpool's Milan Baros.
Baros' future at Anfield looks to be short, with the player being left out of Liverpool's European ties so far, amidst suggestions that the club do not want to cup tie him and reduce his value.
The Czech Republic international has never replicated his international form at Liverpool, and Rafa Benitez is believed to be open to his sale.
Although there are likely to be a whole host of clubs in for the young marksman, Pardew has confirmed that West Ham will make a move.
"I'm not going to talk directly about Milan because he's still under contract," Pardew told Sky Sports News.
"But we are after a striker and if someone of his quality is available I am going to go for him."
Liverpool are set to complete the signing of Peter Crouch - pushing Baros even further down the pecking order.
When asked if Baros could be sold, Benitez told Sky Sports News: "Yes, it is a possibility.
"He is a player that is important for us - but we know the market sometimes changes.
"We have more options now in attack and it depends on the number of teams we would play."

The Hammers have ended their tour of Sweden with another 3-0 victory. This time the opponents were Vastra Frolunda. An own goal plus 2 Goals from Czech trialist Petr Mikolanda has given Pardew plenty to think about on the way back to the UK.

Think long and hard Alan - I think we should see this guy a few more times before shelling any cash on a pottentially dud striker. He could come good but we can't afford a gamble - we need instant goals from a proven Premier League (or equivalent) striker. If we can take this czech guy for a while too then so be it but we still need a top striker.

Skysports C&P

West Ham United will send a representative to France to watch Pele play against Monaco on Wednesday.
The Belenenses defender has crossed Alan Pardew's radar and Portuguese sources claim the Hammers boss may leave the East Londoners' current base in Sweden to attend the friendly personally.
The clash with Monaco is taking place in Anglet, near Biarritz, and it is likely the newly-promoted Premiership side will step up their interest with a firm bid.
Pardew has already been active in the transfer market, including raiding Cardiff City for defenders James Collins and Danny Gabbidon, but he is still looking for reinforcements, despite being pleased with his side's pre-season thus far.
"We're some way down the line," he told Sky Sports News.
"Further down the line than I expected to be at this stage.
"That's pleasing.
"At the moment, the physical levels are really high, so we're really pleased."

C&P Skysports

West Ham United have completed the signing of Yossi Benayoun after the Israeli playmaker was granted a work permit.
The Premiership new boys were fully expecting Benayoun to secure the necessary paperwork due to his standing in the Israel national team.
With the work permit issue now resolved, Benayoun has tied up the formalities of his move from Racing Santander.
The Hammers have paid the Spanish club £2.5 million, with Benayoun signing a four-year deal at Upton Park, after also attracting the interest of Everton and Bolton.
Benayoun will be looked upon to supply the ammunition for the West Ham strikers this season after manager Alan Pardew admits he was chasing a creative talent for his squad.
"He's a player with flair, who will be able to open the door for us when teams sit deep," said Pardew.
"We needed a player like that and at 25-years-old he is a great signing for the club."

We were all told at the start of the silly season that Alan Pardew had approximately £20 million to spend on new players. Assuming that includes wages, we can estimate how much of the kitty is left. I make it like so:

Caroll: £0 million fee, £20k/week wages, or about £1 million/year
Konchesky: £2.5 million fee, £20k/week wages, or about £1 million/year
Gabbidon: £2 million fee, £15k/week wages, or about £800k/year
Collins: £1 million fee, £10k/week wages, or about £500k/year
Benayoun: £2.5 million fee, £25k/week wages, or about £1.3 million/year

(Of course the wages are guesses, but are unlikely to vary greatly from these amounts.)

Adding these up, Pardew's spent about £12.6 million so far, not including the costs of new contracts to Etherington, Ferdinand, Sheringham, Newton, and others. Are they included in the kitty? Who knows? Their wages might be partly subsidised from the dropping of the wages of players like Hutch, Lomas, and Powell, so I won't include them here.

So I make it Alan could have as much as £7.4 million left to spend. A lot of our touted rumour fees for a striker are in the region of £5 or £6 million. This seems about right, because we could get a £6 million striker at £25k per week, and cut in just under the rumoured £20 million total.

However, this leaves us with nothing left for the January transfer window. Would Pardew take such a risk? Possibly. He might consider that it's better off spending what you've got to start with, than to have money sitting in the bank for 5 months, during which half your season is gone. On the other hand he might want to see where the season pans out and bring in some fresh faces in January, which as you recall nearly saved us a couple of years ago, when Roeder brought in Les Ferdinand and Rufus Brevett. If we bought a £3 million striker now, at £20k a week, then we could have £3 million to spend on new players in January. But who do you get for £3 million? Not a 20-goal a year striker. So what does Alan do?

It comes down to whether Marlon, Bobby, and Teddy cut it in the Premiership this season. If Yossi and Matty both shine, then I think so. Depending on how well our midfield provide for our forwards, we could be going well enough as it is.

I think it's worth spending part of the remainder on a striker, but not a big name like Benny McCarthy - but it depends on who is available at the right price. I'd hope that out of our four main strikers (including the new signing), somebody hits a good purple patch for at least part of this season. But then again, I'm no Alan Pardew. It'll be interesting to see what he does.

Here are some videos of our new boy Yossi Benayoun in action. I haven't seen the large compilation yet but from the others he looks like he was born with a ball at his feet. So to speak. :-)

Large compilation (40MB)

Peach of a shot after rounding 2 defenders (0.4MB)

Gets past about 4 defenders and squeezes in a shot (5.5MB - dodgy quality)

Rounds the keeper at high speed(3.7MB)

Taps over defender and volleys past keeper(1MB)

OK, this is a bit off the topic, but it's pretty cool. I recently discovered that you can have live updated news feeds to Mozilla Firefox, meaning you can have links to the latest headlines in your bookmarks! And it's really easy.

Go to the Bookmarks menu and select 'Manage Bookmarks'. Under the 'File Menu', select 'Newsmark'. Create a name for the Live Bookmark and add the URL of the site's XML, RSS, or Atom feed (usually linked from a small orange icon somewhere in the news site's menu that looks like this: ). New articles from that site will appear as Live Bookmarks in Firefox.

The Atom feed URL for this here blog is http://www.whu-au.blogspot.com/atom.xml. The URL for BBC West Ham news is here, and the one for BBC general football news is here. Keep an eye out on your favourite news sites for the icon.

You can also set up news readers to do it, particularly if you're using Netscrape or Internet Bumdragger Netscape or Internet Explorer.

West Ham are linked with a £5.5 million grab for Liverpool striker Milan Baros. Er, no thanks!

Also, TEAMTalk has (prior to the Benayoun capture) linked us with Jason Koumas for £1.5 million or a loan. With the capture of Yossi this transfer now looks less likely, but it's possible that Pardew would like to cover his bases with another playmaker. I reckon a striker would be first on the agenda now, though.

Chris Cohen is no longer going to Bournemouth as he has developed a groin injury, which will keep him out of action for four weeks or so - enough to force the Cherries to look elsewhere.

This was borrowed from the official match review here. Here is the squad that defeated FC Trollhattan: Bywater, Repka, Newton (Ward 75), Gabbidon (Collins 45), Ferdinand, Chadwick (Williams 45), Fletcher, Reo-Coker, Sheringham (Dailly 75), Zamora (Mikolanda 70), Etherington (Konchesky 75). Subs unused: Bucek (GK), Mullins, Harewood. Looks like Newton played at left-back - make of this what you will. Chadwick got two assists (for Fletcher and Sheringham), and Etheringtone one assist for Z-man.

Unless I'm mistaken it's now 6 goals in 5 matches for Bobby - let's hope he carries this sort of form into the Premiership!

A new link has resurfaced and it has emerged that West Ham are making a serious bid to bring Edgar Davids to Upton Park this week.

According to Skysports (I know sky again - but they seem to be reliable at the moment) he favours a return to Spain but West Ham are working hard to lure him to the Premiership. He is understood to be able to leave Inter this week so his fate should be sealed in the next 7 days or so.

Oh please let it be so. If we can attract a player of this calabre, pottential signings will chose us over other mid range premier league clubs. Who would you rather play along side Davids or Cahill?

C&P Skysports

Hammers land Yossi
by James Pearson - created on 16 Jul 2005


West Ham have completed the capture of Israel international Yossi Benayoun for £2.5 million.
The Hammers and Bolton were vying for the 25-year-old's services, but it was Alan Pardew's side who won the race for the former Maccabi Haifa star.

Benayoun, who has signed a four-year deal, is believed to have undergone a medical at Upton Park on Saturday before penning a deal with the East London outfit.
"We are delighted to have signed such a highly-rated player who was being chased by a number of other leading Premiership clubs," said managing director Paul Aldridge to the club's official website.
"I am sure he will become a huge favourite with our fans."

While Benayoun played for Racing Santander last season the fee will not be paid to the club as agents Pini Zahavi and Ronen Katsav recently bought the player for around €3.5 million (£2.4 million).

The Israeli midfielder rejected a move to CSKA Moscow earlier in the summer as he was aiming to clinch a transfer to The Premiership.

Carl Fletcher, Bobby Zamora and Teddy Sheringham have helped West Ham win their second friendly of the season, each bagging a goal against Trollhattans IF within the last few hours. More details to follow if I can!

Also, Matty has just signed a new four year deal to keep him at Upton Park till he's 27.

Finally, thanks to all those who came to the Brisbane Hammers meet tonight! See you all next time.

C&P from Skysports

Pardew coy over Yossi
by Ben Blackmore - created on 15 Jul 2005

West Ham United manager Alan Pardew is refusing to accept that he has got his man, even though Yossi Benayoun admitted on Thursday that The Hammers are the club he wants to move to.

Bolton and West Ham are both desperate to capture the Israeli, who will cost £2.4 million and if Pardew is confident of winning the race, he is certainly keeping his cards close to his chest.
"I think that the situation is going to be ongoing for a couple of days," Pardew told Sky Sports News. "I think there's no mystery to the fact that we're involved and Bolton are involved.
"I think he (Benayoun) is a very good player, one club is going to get lucky I think."

Meanwhile, West Ham's new goalkeeper Roy Carroll has admitted that he is not taking his position for granted since leaving Manchester United, and he is expecting a tough fight for the number one jersey at Upton Park.

Carroll revealed: "I'm looking forward to it. There are good goalkeepers who will be battling the whole way until the start of the season.
"I'll be fighting for the number one spot and hopefully we'll get a good start to the season."

West Ham are off to a flying start to their pre-season, defeating Falkenbergs FF 3-1 a few hours ago.

Marlon Harewood scored a brace and Bobby "£20 million man" Zamora also got on the score sheet. Details of the match and the squad are sketchy, but KUMB reckon that new signings Konchesky, Gabbidon and Collins all had a run-out, while triallist Petr Mikolandr started up front with Marlon.

The next friendly is against Trollhattans IF, at 1am Sunday, Brisbane time. By then, it's possible that Yossi Benayoun will be a part of the team.

In other news, young Chris Cohen has headed to Bournemouth for a year on loan, confirming that Pardew will be seeking cover for the left-back position. Why Cohen hasn't broken into the first squad, I don't know, but it's strange that for a while there he was looking like almost a regular. He's still only 18, so hopefully he will get some good first team experience and come back a winner. It will be interesting to see whether he plays left back, left midfield, or his favoured central midfield for the Cherries.

A related story is that rumours are linking us with Clive Clarke, the Stoke captain. The 25-year-old Dubliner can play at left-back, central defence, or even midfield, and apparently has good pace and a good touch. He has a year left on his contract at Stoke and could head our way, if we can come to an agreement about the fee. Stoke want £500,000, and have already turned down a bid (supposedly £125,000) by Sunderland.

According to Skysports Israel international Yossi Benayoun claims he has agreed a move to West Ham. Sky claim reports in Spain have linked the Racing Santander playmaker with The Hammers, with talks rumoured to have been ongoing this week.

Benayoun apparently revealed in Spanish press that terms at West Ham have been agreed and the transfer is a formality.

"I had many offers, but West Ham attracted me most," said Benayoun.
"My dream has come true.
"It is not about money. I want to be part of the club's adventure back in The Premiership."

He certainly seems to know all about us and seems keen to sign. To be honest I know nothing about him but reports suggest a high pedigree as he has been tracked by Newcastle United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers in the past.

Skysports mentioned that Benayoun is leaving Santander after the Primera Liga club accepted an offer of €3.5 million (£2.4 million) from his agents for his transfer rights. Apparently Racing had agreed a €5 million (£3.4 million) fee with CSKA Moscow, but Benayoun rejected the move because he wants to play in the Premiership. His loyalty seems questionable, so how long until he wants to join a bigger club then?? This has apparels of Eyal Berkovic written all over it.

Skysports also stated that Pardew has also been tipped to make a move for Hammers old boy Fredi Kanoute, with a £4 million offer for the Tottenham striker being mooted.

Look I love Fredi as a player but can we really afford 4 million quid on a player that spends most of his career injured? FFS Pardew - Dean Ashton!!!!!!!