West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has stated that he still wants five more players between now and the end of the transfer window in order to prepare for the new Premier league season. After flirting with relegation for several months before eventually staying in the Premier League last season, West Ham were under a lot of pressure to sack manager Allardyce. Being a club that demands good football due to the rich history, fans have been treated to a very poor spectacle under Allardyce.

Even though the former Bolton manager helped them get back into the Premier League at the first time of asking, they are ready to see him go. Despite this, West Ham managed to strike a deal with the fans and Allardyce ended up staying at the club. He is expected to be given the transfer budget of more than £ 20 million in order to strengthen the squad after agreeing to play more attacking football in the coming season. West Ham have brought in former Birmingham striker Zarate. Senegal international Cheikhou Kouyate has also been signed to improve the attack of the club.

Despite this, Allardyce says that he is still looking at as much as five players before the transfer window shuts. According to him, transfer negotiations are at an advanced stage for the club’s transfer targets. “We’ve made many bids and there are many negotiations ongoing. We particularly want a left-back, ideally another centre-back, a midfielder and at least two more for the front line,” said Allardyce.

It is expected that if results do not improve straight away, there is a chance that he would leave the club before Christmas. West Ham were bottom of the table during December last year, but they went on a run of several victories during February and March. This helped them stay up.

Sunderland midfielder Adam Johnson has claimed that he is disappointed not to be part of the World Cup 2014 squad for the England national team. Johnson has been left out of the squad despite an impressive second half of the season. His exploits over the course of the season may have gone unnoticed since Sunderland struggled with relegation for most of the season. However, they managed to stay up largely because of the quality provided by Conner Wickham and Adam Johnson. The 26-year-old was also was named as the Premier League player of the month in January.

Johnson has said that he feels that his form over the course of the season has been extremely good and that he was looking to get included in the England squad for the World Cup. The injuries to players like Walcott who are regarded as his main competitors was expected to help him in this regard. However, Roy Hodgson decided to go in for players from Liverpool like Raheem Sterling. These players have limited international experience when compared with Johnson, who has made 12 appearances for the national team.

However, his last appearance for the national team came in August 2012 and it now looks highly unlikely that he will be recalled to the team anytime soon.

“On the whole, since the new gaffer [Gus Poyet] came in, I’ve been happy with my form. It was then that I started scoring a few goals and getting back to my best form and from January onwards is probably the best I have played in my career. Everyone would be saying that I was playing really well at City when I was getting into England squads, but personally I think this is the best spell I’ve had as a footballer,” said the 26-year-old about his international place.

West Ham have confirmed that Sam Allardyce will remain as the manager next season. The former Bolton and Newcastle United manager has been heavily linked with an exit in the last few weeks following a huge round of dissatisfaction from the fans due to the defensive football being employed at the club. West Ham have a tradition of playing entertaining football, but this has totally disappeared under Allardyce in the last two years. However, the club has been successful under his regime after coming back to the Premier league in the first instance.

He has almost got them into the top half of the table following an impressive run of results in the second half of the season. Despite this, he has been faced with a lot of criticism which continued even in the final match of the season against Manchester city. After holding talks with the manager, the club have decided to keep him in his position. However, it is understood that Sam Allardyce has made some compromises and will be bringing in a new coach to ensure that the club play an attacking style of football from next campaign. In a statement, the board has also revealed that they will be giving the manager money to spend in the summer.

“After listening to feedback from supporters, the board have insisted on improvements to the set-up of the playing and backroom staff to ensure the team provides more entertainment next season. The board will once again be investing considerable funds into the club this summer. The club have made clear that they want to see progression on the pitch and at least a top-10 finish as a result,” said the club statement. “I look forward to taking the club forward and improving the squad for next season,” said Allardyce in his response.