West Ham midfielder Mark Noble has pleaded with the club to make sure Scott Parker does not leave.
Hammers midfielder insists team-mate must remain
West Ham midfielder Mark Noble has pleaded with the club to make sure Scott Parker does not leave.
The Hammers have made a poor start to the season and have lost their first two games in the Premier League as new manager Avram Grant looks to make his mark at Upton Park.
Parker, 29, has been strongly linked with a switch to Tottenham in recent weeks, with Spurs having an £8million bid for the tough tackler turned down.
But after stalling on signing a new five-year contract, Noble fears that Parker may opt to leave West Ham, something which he feels would be a huge blow to the club.
"We need to keep hold of him for the sake of everything," he said in the
Daily Mirror.
"Me and Scott have played together in the centre of midfield together in the last couple of games, I've really enjoyed it as a two and we bounce off each other.
"I know if he goes forward then I will sit and the other way round. It's like being telepathic and it's great to have that sort of understanding.
"I think we need to strengthen the squad. It's such a long season with so many games, we need to bring quality to the squad. There's no doubt we need to do that.
"If we can bring in a little bit of quality, a bit of steel then I've got no qualms about that."
After their disappointing start to the campaign, things do not get any easier for the Hammers as they travel to Manchester United on Saturday.
But despite the team not yet clicking into gear, Noble says they have not played too badly and is confident the squad at Upton Park has sufficient quality to succeed.
He added: "To be honest, it doesn't worry me. I think we've got a good enough squad, good enough players to be doing well.
"We played the best we've played for a long time against Bolton on Saturday in the first half, but scrappy goals killed us off.
"That's what we've got to guard against and it will be a little bit different against Man United on Saturday. But we've still got to look at it in the same way."
