West Ham have today had a bid of £4 million for Pascal Chimbonda knocked back by Latics. The amount is a significant step towards the £6m that the club have said they want for the player but does not seem to have shook the resolve of either chairman or manager. It’s not clear whether West Ham are rethinking their offer or will now look elsewhere.

The other issue is how much of a better prospect Pascal would think the Hammers present. Personally I give them more of a chance of surviving next season than Latics but they are clearly not the big club that Chimbonda had in mind. Things aren’t looking good for him in that respect, Spurs are the only club to show an interest that come close to that bracket and their interest has waned.

Unlike Jason Roberts, the club have left the door open for the Frenchman, and his attitude on returning from Germany will be key to his future. If he knuckles down then he’ll play, if not then who would want to buy a Latics reserve? The club obviously want him to stay and it’s in his best interests to do well. It should be an interesting couple of weeks.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PIE AT NIGHT PODCAST
We promise you that it’s easier to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t have to rely on us to remind you when a new episode comes out.

Apple sorts can find it on iTunes here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pie-at-night-podcast/id1097853442?mt=2

If you prefer a different podcast app then just search for “The Pie at Night Podcast”.

You can also find us on Stitcher, here – http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-pie-at-night-pocast/the-pie-at-night-podcast

If you’re that way out, you can find and subscribe to our RSS feed here – http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepieatnight

And if you just want to take pot luck then you can find all our episodes on our Soundcloud page