Zola Resigned To Losing His Best Players

[Drifter]

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has admitted he cannot be sure that he will be able to keep hold of the Hammers leading players during next month's transfer window, reports The Guardian.

The manager is desperate to retain key men such as Rob Green, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole, but acknowledged that their future is out of his hands because of West Ham's financial predicament.

"You know, we want to keep the best players. I don't know what's going to happen next month," said Zola. "The only thing I know for sure is that before then we have three games coming up that are very, very important and I want to focus on them. That's the main thing, the rest is out of my control."

The Italian prefers to focus on a festive programme which starts against bottom-placed Portsmouth on Saturday and is followed by games against Tottenham, also in the Premier League, and Arsenal, in the FA Cup.

"The first step is to get through this game on Saturday, which is vital, and let's do it all together and then we'll see what happens [in January]," Zola said.

 

[RonaldoVII]

If they sell the likes of Cole and Upson etc, you can't see them surviving the drop. I don't see how they are 19th in the league, they have some good players.

 

[Name Changed]

They'll struggle without their top players. They can't afford to lose anyone.

 

[Berlinknives]

If they sell the likes of Cole and Upson etc, you can't see them surviving the drop. I don't see how they are 19th in the league, they have some good players.

Well you see their problem is that right there, they are over reliant on a handful of individuals, perhaps less than a handful.

You only have to look at their results to see why they are in it. They've won three games this season, a home win at Burnley, away to Wolves and a home win against 10 men Aston Villa, they've had some decent draws against Chelsea and Arsenal, but they've lost half their games, and lost to the likes of Bolton, Stoke, Everton and Wigan, mostly away from home. Even with their best players they have been one of the poorer sides in the league, I think people should realise that they are not too good to be considered relegation material.

In fact the last time West Ham went down, they had David James, Glen Johnson, Paulo Di Canio, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Trevor Sinclair, Jermaine Defoe, Les Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer, Anton Ferdinand, Tomas Repka and Federic Kanoute to name a few.

One good thing for West Ham is that if they have to sell, they could still hold out to get results against Wolves, Blackburn and the two games against Portsmouth before the deadline passes. Of course if they're struggle to get the points from these games and are in the relegation zone going into Februrary, they should be firmer favorites for the drop.

At the end of the day, if they don't lose their best players, given the lack of willing buyers to take on the debt they have, they could go into (official) administration and then they'd need around 35 points in the second half of the season, the current points tally of Aston Villa to survive the drop.

Portsmouth don't have money to spend but they have a better manager, the African Nation's cup and transfer embargo will work in the Hammer's favour though.

 

[Berlinknives]

If rumours are to be believed:

UPSON OUT (Tottenham) .... CAMPBELL (free agent) IN
CARLTON COLE OUT (Liverpool) ... VIDUKA (free agent) IN
PARKER OUT (Liverpool) ... KOREN (WBA) IN
BEHRAMI OUT (Arsenal) ... CARSLEY (Birmingham) .IN
GREEN OUT (Tottenham) ... FOSTER (Man United) LOAN IN

 

[Alex]

Those would be decent signing for Liverpool

 

[x42bn6]

Liverpool are skint - they won't be able to buy anyone.

 

[Alex]

Reckon they could probably afford one of those two players

 

[sammsky1]

In fact the last time West Ham went down, they had David James, Glen Johnson, Paulo Di Canio, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Trevor Sinclair, Jermaine Defoe, Les Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer, Anton Ferdinand, Tomas Repka and Federic Kanoute to name a few.

Add Lampard, Rio & Joe Cole to that list ... its astonishing ... Upton Park is such an amazing talent factory!! I really like West Ham as a club. Its a proper club which has produced wonderful footballers over many many years. It really would be a shame if they went down.

I like the idea of loaning them players like Foster etc. In fact if I were Zola, that is what I would do; rely on the good will that the likes of SAF, the Chavs etc will have for him and get fringe players like Foster loaned to him. It would do the likes of Macheda the world of good to be getting regular games at West Ham. Will be a very busy January transfer window for them I think

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

If rumours are to be believed:

UPSON OUT (Tottenham) .... CAMPBELL (free agent) IN
CARLTON COLE OUT (Liverpool) ... VIDUKA (free agent) IN
PARKER OUT (Liverpool) ... KOREN (WBA) IN
BEHRAMI OUT (Arsenal) ... CARSLEY (Birmingham) .IN
GREEN OUT (Tottenham) ... FOSTER (Man United) LOAN IN

Out: Upson 10 million + Cole 15 million + Parker 6 million + Behrami 5 million + Green 9 million

In: Koren 2 million + Carsley 0.5 million

Result: BYE BYE PREMIERSHIP WEST HAM

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Hope they find a way!

 

[Berlinknives]

Add Lampard, Rio & Joe Cole to that list ... its astonishing ... Upton Park is such an amazing talent factory!! I really like West Ham as a club. Its a proper club which has produced wonderful footballers over many many years. It really would be a shame if they went down.

I like the idea of loaning them players like Foster etc. In fact if I were Zola, that is what I would do; rely on the good will that the likes of SAF, the Chavs etc will have for him and get fringe players like Foster loaned to him. It would do the likes of Macheda the world of good to be getting regular games at West Ham. Will be a very busy January transfer window for them I think

I had Joe Cole on that list he was relegated, but Lampard and Rio left in seasons before they went down.

 

[Berlinknives]

Out: Upson 10 million + Cole 15 million + Parker 6 million + Behrami 5 million + Green 9 million

In: Koren 2 million + Carsley 0.5 million

Result: BYE BYE PREMIERSHIP WEST HAM

They were after Adriano and Toni though.

 

[Berlinknives]

Liverpool are skint - they won't be able to buy anyone.

Man City and Chelsea have been hovering around the club, as have many premiership clubs.

 

[Rowem]

Upson and Cole are good players and West Ham would miss them.

I think Collison has a bright future too.

The rest of their team is replaceable.

Xmas day transfer muppetry FTW!

 

[Marcus]

Upson and Cole are good players and West Ham would miss them.

I think Collison has a bright future too.

The rest of their team is replaceable.

Xmas day transfer muppetry FTW!

I think Upson would be a good signing for United with our ridiculous injuries.