Chadli, Mason, Son (and why he isn't leaving)

TRANSFER TALK

Chadli, Mason, Son

I do like a spot of comedy so when I saw a headline suggesting three players West Ham should poach from Tottenham I just had to have a laugh.

At this stage, nobody knows how the season will pan out, who will get injured, who will get a chance to play in the Champions League or Premier League. While a player may not have been first choice last season that doesn't mean he won't force his way in this season. Football is a squad rotation game now and opposed to the traditional eleven plus substitutes.

So who are the comedians at Football Fancast suggest would be more than happy to swap the chance of Champions League football for a couple of the Europa League play-off rounds before possibly getting Europa League football.

Top of their list was Nacer Chadli who is needed at Spurs simply because he has proven ability in the Premier League, while Clinton Njie, Alex Pritchard, Josh Onomah, possibly Georges-Kevin N’Koudou all have virtually none between them. His sale would leave us exposed so it looks highly unlikely Pochettino would sell him.

second was Ryan Mason, who at the moment is the understudy to Mousa Dembele. He has shown he can be an effective Premier League performer and we may well be needing that experience when we rest Dembele between Champions League games. While the press and plenty of fans are lining him up for a move, I simply don't see it without someone being brought in, Wanyama plays the Dier role, not the Dembele role, they are different.

Third was Son Heung-min, which is fanciful thinking. The word coming out of the club is that Pochettino likes him. He has had a season under his belt in English football and you would expect him to kick on in his second season. like Chadli his experience is needed, he has it at European level. He has played abroad, he has played Champions League. Most of our players have never experienced it so he has a role to play.

Players like to move upward in their career, not downward, so passing up the opportunity to play Champions League football isn't going to happen. It is pretty clear that Son Hueng-min is staying at Tottenham because we have just signed a two-year sponsorship deal with a South Korean tyre company, Kumbo Tire, where he was part of the ceremonies. The company also partnered with his club in Germany and wouldn't have done so without assurances he wasn't going to be sold this summer.

Chances of any of these three joining West Ham - 0%