West Ham United could be set to loan out Portuguese trio Goncalo Cardoso, Mesaque Dju and Xande Silva, according to ExWHUemployee, though no destination clubs have been named.
The first of these certainly makes sense, as Cardoso is seemingly behind Ajibola Alese, as well as the club’s senior centre-backs, in the pecking order.
This comes with the young Englishman getting the full 90 minutes during the 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Hull City. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old is yet to receive any first-team minutes since arriving from Boavista.
However, the club’s logic surely has to come into question if we loan out both Dju and Silva before the deadline.
We have already sold Jordan Hugill and Albian Ajeti, to Norwich City and Celtic respectively, during the current transfer window, without bringing in a replacement. This leaves Michail Antonio and Sebastien Haller as our only senior striker options.
Who should West Ham loan out?
Dju
Silva
Both
Neither
Consequentially, Dju and Silva are likely next in line for any minutes upfront, unless David Moyes wants to pull Jarrod Bowen or Andriy Yarmolenko out of position.
While Antonio has had a great start to the season, scoring twice in four Premier League games, he has had his injury problems in the past, missing out on a place in the squad for 14 league games last term.
Therefore, West Ham need to maintain some sort of depth, and while Odemipo Odubeko has taken his opportunities to impress for the U21s – notably scoring an EFL Trophy brace against Southend United – it may be too soon to expect the 17-year-old to come in.
With this in mind, the decision to loan out both attackers would be a naive one, leaving us vulnerable if Antonio or Haller sustained an injury.
This would mean that David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady will have unnecessary added pressure to bring in another striker before the deadline.
