{"id":121665,"date":"2025-09-05T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T11:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/121665\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T11:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T11:25:09","slug":"pundit-suggests-west-ham-should-have-been-all-over-aston-villa-star-at-8m-bargain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/121665\/","title":{"rendered":"Pundit suggests West Ham should have been all over Aston Villa star at \u00a38m bargain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just because West Ham United have spent millions on Niclas Fullkrug, Nayef Aguerd, Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman with limited returns, that does not mean there is not value to be found for Premier League clubs in search of bargain buys.<\/p>\n

Over recent years, Hammers fans have been forced to watch a seemingly never-ending conveyor belt of multi-million footballers stumble across the turf, making a mockery of their eye-watering price-tags with every anonymous display, poorly-defended cross and misplaced finish.<\/p>\n

Hammers boss Graham Potter laid the blame<\/a> at his \u00a3106 million centre-back trio of Aguerd, Todibo and Kilman when Sunderland scored two unchallenged headers on the opening weekend. <\/p>\n

Tony Cottee, meanwhile, feels that \u00a330 million James Ward-Prowse was emblematic<\/a> of the club\u2019s midfield issues in the opening weeks of the new campaign. <\/p>\n

An issue West Ham United<\/a> have just spent a further \u00a355 million or so attempting to solve, via the additions of Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa.<\/p>\n

And, after freebie Callum Wilson overshadowed the \u00a327 million Niclas Fullkrug<\/a> at the City Ground last Sunday, Gabby Agbonlahor cannot help but wonder just what is going on in the London Stadium boardroom.<\/p>\n

\"MorganPhoto by Alex Livesey \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty ImagesGabby Agbonlahor says Morgan Rogers is the sort of bargain West Ham United are missing<\/p>\n

While Agbonlahor\u2019s beloved Aston Villa reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the likes of John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, Emi Martinez and Morgan Rogers, West Ham have drifted further and further away from the elite despite splurging over \u00a3350 million on new signings since their Conference League success in 2023.<\/p>\n

Between them, McGinn, Tielemans, Kamara, Martinez and the outrageously talented Morgan Rogers \u2013 who scored a Champions League hat-trick against Celtic en route to the last-eight \u2013 cost Aston Villa a combined \u00a328 million.<\/p>\n

Just \u00a31 million more than West Ham spent on a now-32-year-old Fullkrug last summer.<\/p>\n

For Agbonlahor, the reason why Aston Villa went from strength to strength while West Ham slipped down the table can be explained partly by both club\u2019s respective transfer activity. He uses Rogers, signed for an initial \u00a38 million from second-tier Middlesbrough 20 months ago, as a prime example of the sort of value West Ham have frequently overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAston Villa got Morgan Rogers for [around] \u00a310m. He\u2019s probably worth \u00a3100 million now,\u201d Agbonlahor tells talkSPORT<\/a>. \u201cYou could sign someone for \u00a380 million who is not as good as someone you sign for \u00a310 million! <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about scouting, it is about who is making the decisions. Now, in football clubs, we are hearing managers don\u2019t always have the last say on players. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow can that work?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GrahamPhoto by James Gill \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty ImagesAston Villa icon hails Malick Diouf, Mateus Fernandes and Callum Wilson deals<\/p>\n

While a spokesman for West Ham\u2019s board told Hammers News this week that Graham Potter had a major say<\/a> in all of the summer additions, additions such as Callum Wilson, Kyle Walker-Peters and Igor Julio hardly smacked of ambition while the more expensive acquisitions at the London Stadium have frequently flattered to deceive.<\/p>\n

Agbonlahor, though, does like the business done over recent months.<\/p>\n

Mateus Fernandes and Malick Diouf showed signs<\/a> of a very promising understanding down the left-hand side at Nottingham Forest. Callum Wilson opened his Hammers account off the bench, while Kyle Walker-Peters did a superb job stopping Callum Hudson-Odoi in his tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWest Ham, they\u2019ve spent money but haven\u2019t always spent it wisely,\u201d adds Agbonlahor.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] I do like Diouf, the left-back they signed for [nearly] \u00a320 million. Fernandes from Southampton is a very good player. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll do well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Callum Wilson; Free transfer, hasn\u2019t cost you anything. He looked great at Forest, scored a great goal. You see his movement for the goal, he made eight, nine different movements to get away from the defender.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just because West Ham United have spent millions on Niclas Fullkrug, Nayef Aguerd, Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[18890,49,48,66533,67623,574,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-121665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-aston-villa","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-gabby-agbonlahor","12":"tag-morgan-rogers","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}