West Ham target Wout Faes heads to the UAE
Wout Faes was linked with West Ham United on transfer deadline day. However, the move did not come to fruition, and he ended up staying with Leicester City. Faes went on to play just once for the Foxes in League One and has now left the club.
Leicester revealed on their official page that "Faes has joined UAE Pro League side Shabab AlAhli Dubai FC in a permanent deal, subject to international clearance."
Shabab AlAhli are currently third in the United Arab Emirates' top flight. Faes is only 28, so he has presumably gone to the UAE for the money. He had also been linked with a return to his former club Anderlecht and Oud-Heverlee Leuven, which are also owned by Leicester's owners, King Power.
Instead of signing Faes, Morato joined West Ham on loan from Nottingham Forest. He is a younger option to Faes and has also been able to fill in at left-back. The Hammers continue to be linked with alternative centre-back options, including Dylan Lawlor of Cardiff City.
Other centre-backs who West Ham were linked with include Ben Cabango, Harry Soutter, and Adam Webster. It remains to be seen if they will come back for any of them in January. Webster is a free agent after leaving Brighton & Hove Albion, so he could still be signed before the turn of the year.
West Ham United did not really need Wout Faes
West Ham's current centre-back options are solid. Dinos Mavropanos is at the heart of it, and he just helped Greece defeat Germany 1-0 in the Nations League. Max Kilman looks back to his best after a difficult season in the Premier League.
Morato is predominantly a centre-back, but has mostly been deployed on the left so far. There are also some bright young talents in Ezra Mayers and Airidas Golambeckis, who are both part of the current England Under-20s squad.
Short-term, West Ham needs defenders who can help get them back out of the Championship. Then, the Hammers will be looking at centre-backs to ensure that they stay in the Premier League.
Faes could have been a good option for West Ham, as he won the Championship with Leicester. He has also played for Belgium, AS Monaco, amongst others. However, he was relegated from the Premier League with the Foxes. He was also part of their squad in the Championship for the first half of last season before going on loan to Monaco.
Going to the UAE at this stage in his career shows that Faes might be more motivated by money. Therefore, it might have been for the best that he did not end up at West Ham.
