The manager faces the media ahead of Saturday's FA Cup tie at Anfield
West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic spoke to the media on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup trip to Liverpool.
With the end of the transfer window looming, talk of possible arrivals took centre stage, as did an update on Carl Jenkinson’s fitness.
Can we start with an update on Carl Jenkinson?
SB: “We will have to see because he has an appointment with the doctor, the specialist, on Thursday and we will wait for results. Based on that we will see how bad the injury is. It’s a really unlucky injury – we are still hoping it’s not that bad but we will see what it is.
“We know it is his knee, but we don’t know how bad it is [at this stage]. Based on that we will find a solution which suits everybody.”
How is it looking for your two strikers who are injured?
SB: “It’s looking good. Not regarding the Liverpool game, but Andy will be back playing, let’s say, in ten days, and Diafra and Lanzini in two weeks.
“They are ahead of schedule. I was here yesterday on the day off, and I watched Andy train. He was doing basically everything and he will hopefully start to train with us after the Liverpool game, and if he trains good he could be in the squad for the weekend.”
With that news, are you still in the market for a striker?
SB: “Yes, we are still in the market. We hope that both of our strikers will come fit for the rest of the season, but we are looking to strengthen our squad. We’re not going to buy a player, but if we can loan one we will do it.
With the end of the transfer window looming, talk of possible arrivals took centre stage, as did an update on Carl Jenkinson’s fitness.
Can we start with an update on Carl Jenkinson?
SB: “We will have to see because he has an appointment with the doctor, the specialist, on Thursday and we will wait for results. Based on that we will see how bad the injury is. It’s a really unlucky injury – we are still hoping it’s not that bad but we will see what it is.
“We know it is his knee, but we don’t know how bad it is [at this stage]. Based on that we will find a solution which suits everybody.”
How is it looking for your two strikers who are injured?
SB: “It’s looking good. Not regarding the Liverpool game, but Andy will be back playing, let’s say, in ten days, and Diafra and Lanzini in two weeks.
“They are ahead of schedule. I was here yesterday on the day off, and I watched Andy train. He was doing basically everything and he will hopefully start to train with us after the Liverpool game, and if he trains good he could be in the squad for the weekend.”
With that news, are you still in the market for a striker?
SB: “Yes, we are still in the market. We hope that both of our strikers will come fit for the rest of the season, but we are looking to strengthen our squad. We’re not going to buy a player, but if we can loan one we will do it.
There are varying reports regarding the status of where it is at with Emmanuel Emineke. Is he basically at the point of joining the Club on loan?
SB: “We are waiting for that, because it is a complicated situation. He is a Fenerbahce player, but he is on loan to Al Ain. We made contact, basically they called me from Al Ain, and we thought we could do [the deal] with them, but Fenerbahce have to be involved and now we are talking to them. In the beginning it looked easy, and now, according to Sky mostly, the deal is pretty much alive. So hopefully you guys are right.”
Any players going out between now and Tuesday?
SB: “No. We have Jelavic who might go to China, but they are in pre-season at the moment, so he is staying with us until he might sort the deal out.”
What if you got a silly offer for Payet?
SB: “From my point of view there is no money in the world that we would let him go for.”
Can we have the rest of the team news for Saturday?
SB: “We have a big FA Cup game, it is a big weekend. I was not happy with our draw, because we got Liverpool away and it is one of the most difficult games we could have got, but we are very ambitious for the FA Cup and we are looking forward to the game.
“We will make some changes, and we have 15-16 players who are regulars and are ready to play. They are not only fit from training but have match fitness too.
“Sam Byram is cup tied, but Tomkins is back in training on Thursday and there’s only Mark Noble, who has reported a little but of flu and has stayed home, but will hopefully be ok for Friday.
“Definitely we will put a very, very strong team out but we will make some changes. Some of the guys who played in the last cup game against Wolves will play again.”
SB: “We are waiting for that, because it is a complicated situation. He is a Fenerbahce player, but he is on loan to Al Ain. We made contact, basically they called me from Al Ain, and we thought we could do [the deal] with them, but Fenerbahce have to be involved and now we are talking to them. In the beginning it looked easy, and now, according to Sky mostly, the deal is pretty much alive. So hopefully you guys are right.”
Any players going out between now and Tuesday?
SB: “No. We have Jelavic who might go to China, but they are in pre-season at the moment, so he is staying with us until he might sort the deal out.”
What if you got a silly offer for Payet?
SB: “From my point of view there is no money in the world that we would let him go for.”
Can we have the rest of the team news for Saturday?
SB: “We have a big FA Cup game, it is a big weekend. I was not happy with our draw, because we got Liverpool away and it is one of the most difficult games we could have got, but we are very ambitious for the FA Cup and we are looking forward to the game.
“We will make some changes, and we have 15-16 players who are regulars and are ready to play. They are not only fit from training but have match fitness too.
“Sam Byram is cup tied, but Tomkins is back in training on Thursday and there’s only Mark Noble, who has reported a little but of flu and has stayed home, but will hopefully be ok for Friday.
“Definitely we will put a very, very strong team out but we will make some changes. Some of the guys who played in the last cup game against Wolves will play again.”