Everton Manager Ronald Koeman was left frustrated on deadline day as the club couldn’t capture their targets and despite having agreed a fee with Newcastle Moussa Sissoko did a u-turn and joined Tottenham Hotspur. The only signing they managed on the day was Enner Valencia, on loan from West Ham United. Slaven Bilić had a brilliant transfer window, where the Hammers pretty much succeeded in bringing all of their targets to their new Olympic Stadium. Up front, West Ham are now very well stocked with the likes of Andre Ayew, Simone Zaza and Jonathan Calleri all arriving in the window. Thus, getting a deal done for Enner Valencia is another good piece of business by the London Club.
Enner Valencia joined West Ham in 2014 and did feature 32 times in the Premier League scoring 4 times. Last season he had to spend most of the time on the sidelines with some injuries which restricted him to 19 appearances for his team. He did score 4 goals in the league last season also but the injuries didn’t allow him to settle down fully. Despite his spells of absence on the pitch, Bilić has openly admitted that the striker remains in his plans for the future but at the moment he needs to get some consistent playing time which will let him get back his touch and confidence.
When quizzed about the player, the West Ham manager remarked, “I like Enner as a player and when I was coming to the club I marked him as one of our key players, I rate him highly – and he knows that. His last season was not ruined totally but damaged by a couple of big injuries. We’ve got some new players there, he wanted to go and I think it’s a very good one for both. Sometimes the best outcome is to cut it and start a new beginning. Although it’s a loan – that could help him and that could help us long-term as well.”
From the words of the gaffer, it is clear that the player still has plenty to play for and has a serious future at the Olympic Stadium. With the move to a new stadium and spending over £50m on transfers in the summer window alone, the Hammers are entering a new phase, where they will need to supplement their actions off the pitch with on-field performances.
Bilić has a very potent, quality squad at his disposal and West Ham are expected to be definitely fighting for a top 4 spot in the league table this season. Valencia, after his injuries now needs a little bit of time and a lot of match practice which won’t be plentiful at West Ham given the competition for the places. At Goodison Park under Koeman, he can improve and get back to his best which will benefit him immensely as well as Bilic when the forward will return back to West Ham next season. Thus in all fairness, it is a deal which very rightly as Bilić said, suits everybody just fine.
