ExWHUEmployee Transfer Column Author: ExWHUEmployee . Published: 9 August 2016 at 10:06pm

So we smashed our transfer record by signing Andre Ayew for £20.5m. The signing had been on the cards for a long while as you would have seen by my coverage. I believe it is a great signing but a little strange considering we almost landed him on a free last year. We didn’t go through with the deal because we didn’t want to pay his wages as he was unproven in the Premier League. Now that he has evidence that he can play in the Premier League we were prepared to meet his wage demands and pay him as one of the highest earners at the club including bonuses alongside Payet.

The finances dictated that the club were pretty much left with the choice of Ayew or Bacca for the time being. It was Bilic’s choice to go for Ayew because he is more versatile and can play up top or on the wing and is proven in the Premier League. He is also a good four years younger than Bacca too and these reasons are the thinking behind the decision to buy Ayew. He has also been very keen to join us where as it has been well documented how difficult it has been to persuade Bacca to join the club. I would personally rather sign someone who wants to play rather than one who needs persuading. Part of the persuasion that Bacca required was £150k a week too, for five years taking him up to the age of 35, which would smash our wage structure. This wage structure would have been stretched with Sakho leaving but as it stands he is staying and therefore the wages are high. Bilic thinks that the remaining finances may be better spent elsewhere. The forward department is now covered by Carroll (who Bilic has a lot of faith in), Ayew, Sakho, Valencia, Fletcher (who I think has looked very talented) and the soon to be arriving Calleri. Calleri seems to be stressing a lot of people out, like all of our transfers; however, he will sign after the Olympic games.

Another thing that seems to be worrying a lot of supporters are elements of the new ground and the season ticket situation. I am told that the gaps between the stands will be completed by the Bournemouth game where there is also a key strategy for sitting and standing in certain stands. I am lead to believe more of the advertising boards and final touches to the stadium will be completed and of course you will have your season tickets. If you want to get the reaction from the game of our fans after the Juventus match then watch our fans video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZhSiLF5Mvc

There is a lot of other information that I could share in today’s column but with our radio show live tomorrow at 7pm on 98 fm, I need to save some information to talk about there rather than just repeating all that is in here. You can listen live to Phoenix fm here: http://www.phoenixfm.com/listen-live/ and we will post the links after the show too. We are covering a lot on transfers and answering the readers questions which I enjoy.

Thanks for your continued support for myself and the site and remember I simply bring the news as I understand it, so if it wasn’t what you want to hear I have no power to change that other than to not tell you! Anyway until the next column COYI.