West Ham Opinion: Why the Hammers should avoid signing Joe Allen?
Stoke City are expected to oversee few departures at the end of the season, with midfielder Joe Allen one of the players to leave. He is likely to be on the radar of West Ham and Watford, report the Telegraph.
The Wales international, 29, has supplied with six goals and four assists so far this season. In fact, he scored 10 times in his first two seasons at the club, having joined from Liverpool back in the summer of 2016. He may be interested in a move to the Premier League, considering that Stoke City have come nowhere near promotion this season.
Speaking about West Ham, Manuel Pellegrini will certainly be in the transfer market for new signings this summer. This season endured a torrid start for the Hammers but they have recovered well and are now fighting for a place in the Europa League.
But to compete with the ‘Big Six’ next season, Pellegrini definitely needs a couple of transfer windows more to continue the squad rebuild. One area the West Ham tactician should definitely address in the summer is the midfield.
Declan Rice is a transfer target for Manchester United, and there’s very little depth behind him and the ageing Mark Noble, barring Pedro Obiang. Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez have spent the majority of the campaign out injured, leaving Rice and Noble to burden the responsibility in midfield.
With that in mind, a new central midfielder has to be in Pellegrini’s wishlist but he should avoid signing Joe Allen in the summer.
Allen has been a consistent performer for Stoke since joining from Liverpool in the summer of 2016. He started well at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers, who had signed him from Swansea City back in 2012. But the Welsh midfielder found opportunities tough to come by under new manager Jurgen Klopp and thus had to move on from Liverpool.
He is a decent midfielder, who is a good passer of the ball, a decent tackler and can pick the right pass in the final third. But Allen is 29 now and even though he has solid Premier League experience and a tenacious performer, West Ham would have low resale value if he doesn’t fit into Pellegrini’s system.
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Plus, the Wales international is similar to Noble and if the Hammers are ambitious, they need to look out for other midfield prospects.
Verdict
There’s no doubting Allen’s leadership skills, experience and quality but at this point of time, he won’t improve West Ham’s midfield. Hence, Pellegrini should avoid signing the pint-sized midfielder from Stoke this summer.
