After winning the Europa Conference League and pocketing £105 million for Declan Rice you’d think West Ham United were all set to strengthen their squad ahead of the new season. But with just over a week to go until the Premier League gets underway, the Hammers remain the only club in the top flight not to make any signings.
Rice completed his substantial move to Arsenal over two weeks ago and surprisingly there have been no new arrivals at the London Stadium. Of course, when it is well known just how much money you have received for a star player, the clubs of West Ham’s targets will inflate the price for the Hammers just because they know that they have just banked £105m.
There haven’t been as many names floated around the X-sphere in relation to the Hammers this summer which is quite surprising. There was Harvey Barnes, who has joined Newcastle United, and Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez, but there have been no significant developments in that pursuit.
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The only transfer target that had seen any real movement was Carlos Borges of Manchester City. After a stellar campaign in the Premier League 2, the winger was set to join West Ham for £14m but the deal was hijacked by Ajax at the last minute.
Despite being in a strong financial position, West Ham are struggling to close any deals they are actively pursuing, and this close to the season opener it is a huge concern. The club have been on a high in recent months thanks to their Europa Conference League triumph but that is quickly fading with West Ham not making any signings.
There have also been reports that manager David Moyes has been clashing with new technical director Tim Steidten over targets. This isn’t healthy and it is hampering the Hammers’ preparations for the new campaign in which they will be hoping for a higher Premier League finish, as well as a return to the Europa League.
If this rift between Moyes and Steidten is true, and more importantly continues, the club will step in unless they can see eye-to-eye. Moyes’ position was under a lot of threat last term given West Ham’s poor finish in the Premier League and you would imagine that he would be deemed to be the most expendable of the two.
It would have been hard to imagine that West Ham would be in such a weak position after selling Rice ahead of a Europa League campaign in 2023-24 but here we are. Fans will take some consolation from the fact that the transfer window is open for a few more weeks but the club are leaving themselves with a lot of work to do until September 1. The squad is in desperate need of freshening up and West Ham will need to see quite a few new faces come through the door.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
