THE decision to award both Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell five-year contracts seems on the surface to be an odd one.
Follow that up with the explanation given on one of the clubs favoured websites; that the board were worried about other clubs picking the two players up on the cheap and we are rapidly descending into farce.
The only way this decision makes any sense is as a tacit admission our club don’t trust themselves in the transfer market and cannot be relied upon to either find or purchase superior replacements.
Given Cresswell’s 30th birthday arrives in a few weeks’ time and Masuaku has proved time and again he can’t defend, the immediate question to ask would be who would want them? We haven’t exactly noticed suitors queueing up for either left-back.
As with stocks and shares player values can fluctuate wildly; all it takes is a sudden loss of form and/or a serious injury. Having given Andy Carroll a six-year contract and Winston Reid a five-year deal only for them to experience a series of injuries you might expect the club to have learned from past experience.
Apparently not.
In the words of David Bowie: “Five years, my brain hurts a lot”.
Oh West Ham We Love You 