David Moyes has defended West Ham’s decision to not sign a striker in January (BPI/REX)
David Moyes has defended West Ham’s decision to not sign a striker during the Janaury transfer window.
The Hammers allowed Sebastien Haller to join Ajax for around €22.5 million (£20.2m) last month but a replacement for the 26-year-old was not brought in before Monday’s deadline.
It’s understood that West Ham were offered the chance to sign Diego Costa on multiple occasions during the January window.
The 32-year-old is available on a free transfer having left Atletico Madrid in December, but West Ham have turned down the opportunity.
And while Moyes insists the funds are available to bolster his attacking options, West Ham are ‘trying to do things different’ after a series of failed signings.
‘We didn’t get one but we were looking and we wanted to try and pick correctly,’ said Moyes.
Diego Costa has been offered to West Ham on a free transfer (Getty)
‘We had money to spend, we sold Seb earlier in the window so we had that, but we are trying to do things different at West Ham.
‘We’re not going to follow the same path we have been following before.
‘I chose to keep my money and hopefully we can start another rebuild come the summer time.’
West Ham also missed out on signing Josh King as he completed his move from Bournemouth to Everton on deadline day.
England U18 defender Mengi completed a deadline-day move to Derby, joining the Championship side on loan until the end of the season.
Mengi is one of the most highly-rated young players at Old Trafford and made his senior debut last August in United’s Europa League victory over LASK.
The 18-year-old will hope to establish himself as a first-team regular at Derby and Solskjaer wants him to impress manager Rooney, who is Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer.
‘When you get to his age, sometimes there aren’t enough challenges in every game,’ Solskjaer said of Mengi.
‘It doesn’t prepare him enough for that physical striker or forward that he might meet in the first team.
Owen gave his latest round of predictions (Picture: Getty Images)
The latest round of Premier League fixtures is almost upon us, and Michael Owen has cast his eye over the upcoming matches.
Every team is involved in the midweek action, with things still very tight at the top and in the race for a top-four finish.
The week’s biggest match sees London rivals Chelsea and Spurs go head-to-head, in what will be Thomas Tuchel’s biggest test since taking charge at Stamford Bridge.
And former Manchester United and Liverpool striker Owen thinks Jose Mourinho will bring about Tuchel’s first defeat at his new club.
‘For Spurs, their Sunday wasn’t as successful as they went down 1-0 away to Brighton.
Mourinho will hope his side bounces back (Picture: AMA/Getty)
‘Talk of winning the title will seem like a distant memory for Spurs’ fans, but I just wonder what Jose Mourinho has up his sleeve ahead of this one.
‘It’ll be an interesting battle between the two managers, and even though Tottenham haven’t had the results they may have wanted recently, these are the types of matches where Jose Mourinho excels.
‘With that in mind, I fancy Spurs to just edge it over their London rivals.’
Arsenal are in action on Tuesday evening against Wolves and Owen expects Mikel Arteta’s side to end up frustrated.
He added: ‘Arsenal shared the points with Manchester United on Saturday night in a match where neither team could honestly say they deserved all three points.
‘That said, Mikel Arteta will be a happy man as his side are now undefeated in seven Premier League matches and have conceded only twice in those fixtures.
‘Wolves arrive here amid a patchy run; however, I can’t help casting my mind back to their terrific performance at the Emirates earlier in the season. If they deploy similar tactics here, I think they could have some joy on the counter-attack.
‘This could be a cagey affair, so I’m siding with the draw.’
Michael Owen Premier League predictions
Sheffield United 2-1 West Brom
Wolves 1-1 Arsenal
Man Utd 2-1 Southampton
Newcastle 1-1 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-2 Man City
Fulham 1-3 Leicester
Aston Villa 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Spurs 2-1 Chelsea
Later that night, Manchester United will look to draw level on points with table toppers Manchester City – at least for 24 hours.
‘Two weeks is a long time in football, just ask Ole Gunnar Solkjaer,’ wrote Owen. ‘One point from their last six is not what the United manager would have targeted following his side’s excellent FA Cup win against Liverpool.
‘Visitors, Southampton, arrive here after a couple of underwhelming results of their own. Back-to-back defeats in the league mean the Saints have lost a bit of ground in the race for Europe.
‘Although he’s had them playing some excellent stuff this season, Ralph Hasenhüttl hasn’t got the biggest of squads and his players have certainly more miles on the clock than many.
‘With that in mind, I think United’s strength in depth should be enough to see them secure the points.’
Owen is confident another of his former sides, Liverpool, will pick up three points.
‘It’s back-to-back wins in the league for Liverpool,’ said Owen. ‘The champions have looked more like the side we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years, especially in Sunday’s win against West Ham where they scored a couple of world-class goals.
‘They look to make it three on the bounce against a Brighton side that shocked Spurs on Sunday night. That was a huge result for the Seagulls in their fight for survival, however, Liverpool are starting to look very dangerous and I think the Reds will have more than enough to win.’
In the other games, Owen predicts Manchester City, Leicester, Sheffield United and Aston Villa will stride to victory, while Newcastle and Crystal Palace will share the spoils.
Frank Lampard was sacked last week as Chelsea slipped further away from the top four – which was considered a minimum requirement by Roman Abramovich at the start of the season.
Tuchel has managed four points from the first available six at Stamford Bridge, which has helped the Blues to within five points of Leicester City in fourth.
Leaders Manchester City remain favourites for the title, while champions Liverpool have shown green shoots of recovery with consecutive wins against Spurs and West Ham in the last week.
Redknapp believes the two teams will battle it out for the title but it’s the final two positions that will cause just as much intrigue.
Tuchel has been tasked with making the top four (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
‘Top four? Manchester City or Liverpool [will win it],’ Redknapp told Sky Sports.
‘I suppose Manchester City are favourites. I was with Liverpool but I think Manchester City probably. There’s two runners Man City and liverpool and then Manchester United and Tottenham.
‘I do like Leicester, Brendan Rodgers has done a fantastic job there. They’re the team that could break into it and Chelsea have good players but I’m sticking with Manchester United and Tottenham as third and fourth.’
Chelsea take on Spurs on Thursday in north London, in what could prove a vital match-up in the race to finish in the top four.
Tuchel’s side are yet to concede under the German, who has favoured three at the back since arriving at Stamford Bridge.
Spurs have won just one of their last four outings in the Premier League and they were well below-par in a 1-0 defeat to Brighton on Sunday.
Harry Kane is ahead of schedule in his return from a double ankle injury but the striker is expected to miss the visit of Chelsea.
Alli was wanted by the French champions on loan – but Tottenham blocked their efforts during the January window. (Photo by Visionhaus)
Dele Alli must be reintroduced to the Tottenham first-team during Harry Kane’s absence, according to Paul Merson, after the midfielder failed to secure a loan move to Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino had hoped to secure Alli’s services on loan during the January transfer window only for Spurs to reject their efforts to sign him on loan until the end of the season.
Alli has been frozen out of the first-team under Jose Mourinho this season, starting just one Premier League match with the majority of his opportunities coming in the Europa League and in domestic cup competitions.
Tottenham began a run of games without the injured Kane with a 1-0 defeat at Brighton on Sunday – with Merson insisting it was a contest that was crying out for Alli’s movement off the ball.
‘I don’t know what’s going on with Dele Alli,” Merson told Sky Sports News. ‘I watched Tottenham last night and how he doesn’t get in that team at the moment is beyond me. I don’t know what goes on at the training ground, but he has to play in that team – especially with Harry Kane injured.
Dele Alli has started just one league game this season. (Picture: Getty)
‘No one was running off the ball, and Alli when he’s at his best, he makes those runs and is a good finisher. I watched them against Brighton and they were just static. If he plays against Chelsea, you hold your hands up and understand why he isn’t being allowed to go to PSG.
‘Otherwise, I feel for the lad as he has got the chance to play for PSG – a massive club – and he wants to play. Spurs are saying they need to replace him… but they might as well take me if he’s going to just sit on the bench for the next three or four months!
‘The lad’s got to play. On his day, he’s a special player and he’s one of the best talents in this country when he’s on his game.’
Alli liked a tweet featuring a video snippet of Merson’s comments through his personal Twitter account – along with comments from Harry Redknapp to talkSPORT calling for his return to the first-team.
The Gunners influential skipper has missed the last three games in all competitions to keep in-line with Covid-19 protocols after he was forced to tend a private family matter.
Aubameyang last week confirmed that his mother had been taken ill, and although Arsenal refused to confirm whether or not their star striker had left the country to be with her, he missed the double-header against Southampton and last weekend’s stalemate against Manchester United.
The 31-year-old returned to fist team training on Monday, however, and could, according to The Times, force his way back into Mikel Arteta’s line-up for the trip to Molineux.
In his absence, Alexandre Lacazette, Aubameyang’s striker partner and close friend, has assumed greater responsibility and has hit a rich vein of form following a difficult start to the campaign.
‘It’s linked to confidence and that’s linked to him obviously playing more regular minutes,’ said Arteta when asked about Lacazette’s recent transformation. ‘He’s scoring more goals and he finds himself in better form. Then it’s about supporting our players when they go through difficult moments.
‘We have to be right behind them, we have to talk to them, we have to give them tools to resolve the issues they are going through. Laca has done that by working hard. It’s as simple as that.
‘He committed to work harder, to sticking to what his abilities and qualities are and the moment he transformed a little bit his confidence, he became a different player.
‘[We gave him] A lot of things related to the game. Things he needs to read better about his movement, sometimes about his body language…a lot of things that are important to visualise yourself, then [he needed to] try to correct them.’
Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Edmond Tapsoba is on Liverpool’s radar (Getty)
Liverpool made an approach to sign Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Edmond Tapsoba before landing Ozan Kabak from Schalke, according to reports in Germany.
The Premier league champions reinforced their defensive options on deadline day with the signings of Ben Davies from Preston North End before Kabak joined on loan from Schalke for the remainder of the season.
Liverpool also have the option to sign the Turkey international for £18 million this summer if he impresses during his stint at Anfield.
But according to Sport1, Liverpool made a move for Tapsoba before pushing ahead with their deal to sign Kabak.
However, Liverpool ended their pursuit when Leverkusen demanded a €50 million (£44m) fee for the 22-year-old, who was signed by the Bundesliga club last year.
Tapsoba has quickly established himself as one of the best young defenders in the German top flight and was rewarded in December with a new contract which runs until 2026.
Bayer Leverkusen wanted €50 million from Liverpool for Edmond Tapsoba (Getty)
Klopp, meanwhile, reveals former Schalke manager David Wagner gave a glowing review of Kabak ahead of the defender’s switch to Liverpool.
‘Dave was already very, very positive about him,’ Klopp told the club’s official website.
‘He came very young to Germany and everybody was clear he was a massive talent.
‘He is only 20 now. He plays in his second club [in Germany]; he is at Schalke and unfortunately they are in a bad position in the moment.
Ozan Kabak has joined Liverpool on loan from Schalke (Getty)
‘For him, I think it’s a really good moment to make the move because, like each player in the world, you need a stable team around you and that’s what we can deliver.
‘We deliver a stable team and you can play your position, you don’t have to be 20 with pretty much everything on the pitch and not allowed to make mistakes anymore.
‘He’s really a big, big talent and we are really looking forward to working with him.’
