Ravel Morrison bid has hurt West Ham - Sam Allardyce frustrated as 'mad January' adds to woes

 
Ken Dyer21 January 2014

Sam Allardyce admitted today that Fulham’s approach for Ravel Morrison had unsettled West Ham at a critical time as they fight for their Premier League future.

The Hammers boss branded the transfer window “mad January” and spoke of his frustration at trying to strengthen a squad, who are 18th in the table.

West Ham have turned down a bid from Fulham — believed to be £4million — for Morrison and have made a complaint to the Premier League, claiming the England Under-21 international was tapped up.

At a press conference for tomorrow’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Manchester City, Allardyce was asked if the transfer speculation had unsettled Morrison.

“I would think that across the country there is a player at every football club unsettled because of mad January and this lunatic transfer window which creates havoc throughout the game,” said the West Ham boss.

“There are rumours that somebody is after your player or you are after somebody else’s player and that creates a stir within your club, which is unhealthy based on how many important games you have in this period.

“For us, it’s been particularly difficult with the problems we’re facing and the transfer window adds to that but it’s a problem we have to deal with.”

Allardyce is anxious to improve his defence and attack but the only arrival this month has been centre-half Roger Johnson, who has joined on loan from Wolves.

Ivory Coast striker Lacina Traore was heading for Upton Park until the move was hijacked by Everton while another attacking target, Nikica Jelavic, joined Hull.

West Ham retain hope of bringing Joleon Lescott on loan but Turkish club Besiktas appear to be trying to scupper the London side’s move for the Manchester City defender.

Allardyce said: “Frustrated is an understatement in the amount of deals we’ve tried to do in the last six to eight weeks. There are very few deals happening across the board at the moment because it’s difficult to get top players at this level at this particular time.

“Later in this window things generally get a bit easier in financial terms, in that clubs want to move the players on. That’s why you get a flood of deals in the last few days of the window.

“Our need is to produce a really good signing that can hit the ground running and have an impact right away.”

The Hammers host City with their hopes of reaching the final over, barring a miraculous recovery after a 6-0 first-leg loss.

Allardyce added: “It’s about playing a competitive game of football tomorrow and trying to win it. We’re playing for pride and we want to play well.”

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