Leicester City defender Caleb Okoli was linked yesterday with a move to West Ham, Spurs, and Newcastle United, which I initially dismissed upon hearing the rumour.
fter all, the Hammers seem well-stocked in central defence, with Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo showing promising signs of developing an understanding. While Konstantinos Mavropanos might not have had his best game against Chelsea, I believe that was more due to the complicated tactical instruction to swap positions with Edson Álvarez than Dinos’ ability.
Therefore, it was easy to dismiss the speculation of a move for Okoli—until one considers the panicked nature of the Hammers’ transfer activity at the end of the summer window.
West Ham were very proactive in their search for a fourth central defender, with players like Joel Matip and Mats Hummels coming close to joining before deadline day. Lopetegui and Steidten were so eager to add more numbers to the defensive line that a trial match was hastily arranged to assess former Sheffield United defender John Egan.
In the end, nothing materialised, and the club consoled themselves with the fact that Edson Álvarez could fill in if needed. Unfortunately, there’s one glaring problem with West Ham’s plan: Álvarez is too slow to play the high defensive line deployed by Lopetegui.
As a result, I imagine that Steidten is still on the lookout for that elusive fourth central defender. Whether that’s Caleb Okoli, I don’t know, but I was probably too hasty to rule it out.