OPINION
West Ham will surely be making a blunder if their reported desire to sign Manchester City ace Fabian Delph leads to Aaron Cresswell leaving the club.
According to Football Insider, the Hammers are plotting a move for the Man City 29-year-old as Manuel Pellegrini is keen on having a Premier League-proven midfielder who can also play at left-back if needed.
Given that one of the reasons Pellegrini is thought to admire Delph, who earns £90,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), is due to his ability to play at left-back it’s possible that his arrival could lead to Cresswell leaving.
This is especially the case when you consider Football Insider also reported that the Hammers were ready to sell the left-back if their £8million price tag is met.
The football outlet stated that Pellegrini was willing to wave goodbye to Cresswell after he lost his starting place in the first-team to Arthur Masuaku.
However given that a potential exit for Cresswell would leave Pellegrini short of options when it comes to the position of left-back, as he’d need some cover for Masuaku, it seems believable that signing Delph could help trigger the Hammers ace’s exit.
While Delph is a talented player, it would surely be a blunder if his arrival led to Cresswell’s exit.
This is because Cresswell has proven himself to be a capable left-back over the years, he’s made 157 outings for the club, and because his injury record is nowhere near as worrying as Delph’s.
The Hammers flyer had a few niggles last season but still managed to feature 22 times across all competitions and in his 17/18 campaign he managed 39 appearances and in his 2016/17 season; he made 29 outings.
This is drastically better than Delph’s record.
The 29-year-old Man City player made only 20 appearances in his 2018/19 campaign, with not too many of his outings lasting 90 minutes, featured 29 times in his 17/18 campaign, less than Cresswell, and managed a noticeably low 13 appearances in his 2016/17 campaign due to a knee injury.
So why would Pellegrini want his first-choice left-back cover to be someone who hasn’t managed as many games as his current option? It could backfire and Delph could be out injured before you know it and leave the Hammers short.
Also it would surely be a blunder to sign Delph to potentially replace Cresswell, given the price difference.
Delph would cost £15million, according to The Sun, with the Hammers are only expecting £8million for Cresswell, so that’s £7million down the drain on a player who could end up being worst left-back cover than you previously had.
While some will argue Delph can also play in midfield so he should be more valuable, it’s worth noting that with Declan Rice, Mark Noble and Pedro Obiang at the club, he’s not guaranteed to feature there either.