Vincent Kompany is not going to play for West Ham

Vincent Kompany has largely been absent this season from the Manchester City first team. The City captain, and Belgium international, has been a consistent force for the Citizens since his transfer from Bundesliga team Hamburg SV in the 2009 summer transfer window. His arrival helped usher in the most successful time at Manchester City, as he was named captain of the team prior to the league winning season of 2011-12, and has featured over 300 times for the club.

The years at the back, however, have not been kind to the defender, and his declining health has meant that he only featured 22 times for City last season, and has only appeared seven times this season. He was finally fit enough to be in the team on April 5th, playing against Chelsea, and scored this past weekend against Southampton, but otherwise he has largely been out of the plans of Pep Guardiola as he looks to rebuild the aging squad, with right backs Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna both out of contract and both linked to West Ham United as both of them look to continue playing their football elsewhere next season.

With the Hammers defense leaking goals, there have been cries for new blood to come into the team, as the high priced Jose Fonte has underperformed since his move from Southampton and the usual first choice central defenders, Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna, are both out injured. Cue the recent Mirror headline saying that both Everton and West Ham are looking to bring in City’s captain this summer.

However, unlike the pair of right backs, Vincent Kompany is not out of contract until 2019, and currently has wages of £120,000 a week. Currently, the highest paid player at West Ham United is Andy Carroll, who makes £90,000 a week, and pay packet jealousy has apparently caused issues in the club recently with both Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass getting paid more than the other players who have been at the club longer.

Unless Kompany takes a wage cut, there is no way that the board can afford to pay him his current salary at the London Stadium. Zero chance. Even with the transfer of high-wage earner Dimitri Payet earlier this season, the club has recently stalled with signing star Michail Antonio over his wage demands, and has a number of positions to address in the offseason. And further more, why would Kompany even want to play at West Ham? The team is in shambles, a relegation scrap was just avoided, and there is constant finger-pointing at the club as to who is to blame?

And on top if it all, why would West Ham sign another over 30 defender who has injury issues to play anyway? This is all so silly, and makes no sense from a footballing perspective. Kompany currently is not the same player he was a few years ago, and footballers do not age gracefully, they usually instead hit a wall and stop being effective as their bodies betray them. Kompany is unfortunately at this stage in his career, and would be a terrible signing. Of course, since is he a big name, it would appeal to the business nature of the board, as they seem to enjoy being linked to star players. After all, if Romelu Lukaku had turned you down twice, would you brag about it like Karren Brady recently did?