West Ham round-up: Striker backed for England recall; two January bids rejected; Hurst labels Payet a “prima donna”

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One of the best performers of the season so far for West Ham has been Andy Carroll, despite his frequent injury problems, and Slaven Bilic claims that he deserves a recall to the England national side as he gave an interview with TalkSPORT, where he said:

“He gives you another option. There are not many players capable of playing like him. I don’t see a national team in the world that in which he wouldn’t be useful. He gives you something different. He is in good form. The only thing about him is that now he is a little bit injured and he didn’t train for ten days. That is a big blow for us but, saying that, he is going to be back very soon. I like him. He likes to train, he gives everything, he works for the team and he scores goals.”

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The number nine missed the Hammers’ last fixture against West Brom but is hoping to be fit for the trip to Watford this weekend as he is one of those to benefit from having no fixture last weekend after being knocked out of the FA Cup.

The club are still active in the transfer market, though, as the Sun report that they are considering a £10 million summer bid for St. Etienne right-back Kevin Malcuit. However, they now claim that the Irons had two bids, worth £7 million and £8.5 million turned down for the Frenchman in January.

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The 25-year-old could be a good addition in a problem position for the club, but it only goes to further prove the point that the January transfer window was another frustrating one for the club despite the signings of Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass.

The biggest headline from the transfer window was the sale of Dimitri Payet, who has been criticised by club legend Geoff Hurst, who told the Evening Standard:

“West Ham handled it well by not trying to keep it under lock and key… It always looked like they’d get £25m for him, that’s not too bad a deal at all considering we paid £10m for him. More importantly the unity of the team has proven the most important thing. In one sense it’s sad to lose him but no matter how good you are if you behave like a prima donna and don’t want to play [it’s no great loss].”

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Payet is now settling back into life on the south coast of France, where he has scored one goal in five games for Marseille since his return in January.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Owolabi Marcus.