Luis Jimenez and Andy Carroll

The Times is reporting that Luis Jimenez's loan move to West Ham United is in the offing after his application for a work permit was successful, despite the fact the 24-year-old has not played in 75 per cent of Chile's matches in the last two years.

Jimenez has been little more than a fringe player during his two years at Inter and it is largely due to this that Marcelo Bielsa, current Chile coach, has not been selecting the player for international duty. There is also little chance of Jimenez finding any success with the Italian champions because coach Jose Mourinho is preparing to axe a number of fringe players from his squad.

With this in mind, the Chilean is favourable towards a switch that will guarantee him a place in the starting XI every week. West Ham are able to offer this.

Though the Hammers are confident of landing their man, Tottenham Hotspur are also looking to add Jimenez to their squad. Gianluca Nani, West Ham's technical director, has been tracking Jimenez for some time and this may be a crucial factor if and when the player is forced to choose between the two London clubs.

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/06/15/1325815/inters-luis-jimenez-granted-work-permit-for-west-ham-united-loan-

West Ham United are lining up an offer for Newcastle United's highly-rated target man Andy Carroll, in news that is bound to disappoint Toon fans, who could point to a whole host of players they would rather see leave than the locally-born prospect.

Carroll had been viewed by many observers as having a key role to fulfill for the Magpies, as they look to bounce back from their ignominious relegation to the second tier of English football after a 16-year stay in the Premier League.

English tabloid The Daily Star is reporting that the Hammers, whose financial situation was stabilised somewhat by a takeover last week, are keeping tabs on Carroll though, with manager Gianfranco Zola apparently an admirer.

Newcastle are already looking short on striking options with Mark Viduka and Michael Owen set to be released, and Obafemi Martins, despite his assertions that he will stay, being heavily linked with a move to Arsenal, Aston Villa or Everton.

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/06/14/1325168/west-ham-set-to-move-for-newcastle-united-striker-andy

Luis Jumenez

It is argued that Luis Jumenez of Inter-Milan will join West Ham soon. Here he is scoring for Chile against Venezuela:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Bb436HXEY

West Ham Player Ratings (2008-09)

Over the past few seasons I have collected the ratings of each West Ham players that have been assessed by 13 national newspapers and football websites, including KUMB. As this reflects the judgments of so many different people it is probably the most objective way of assessing a player’s performance over a long period. It also provides an insight into the performance of people like Zola and Clarke. I will comment on this later but here are the ratings of all those who played for West Ham this season. You can also see the player’s ratings for individual games and previous season’s figures here:

Craig Bellamy (6.93)

Scott Parker (6.86)

James Tomkins (6.69)

Matthew Upson (6.67)

Rob Green (6.66)

James Collins (6.63)

Jack Collison (6.55)

Carlton Cole (6.55)

Dean Ashton (6.46)

Mark Noble (6.37)

Junior Stanislas (6.35)

Freddie Sears (6.35)

Herita Ilunga (6.23)

Calum Davenport (6.23)

Lucas Neill (6.19)

Valon Behrami (6.16)

Radoslav Kovac (6.15)

Matthew Etherington (6.12)

Lee Bowyer (6.10)

Hayden Mullins (6.08)

Jonathan Spector (6.01)

Luis Boa Morte (5.94)

David Di Michele (5.94)

Julien Faubert (5.65)

Diego Tristan (5.54)

Kieron Dyer (5.46)

Savio Nsereko (5.37)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2007WHsquad.htm