West Ham's transfer strategy: What is going on?

The highlight of West Ham United's transfer window to date, or lowlight as many fans would see it, has been the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal.

The 24-year-old, less than two months after lifting the Europa Conference League trophy above his head, departed for London rivals Arsenal in a deal that will eventually pocket West Ham a British-record £105m.

It's a fantastic move for Rice on the surface, assuming Arsenal's performances on the field mirror what they've seemingly achieved in the transfer market, but also a fantastic deal for West Ham, who had known for a long time that their captain was destined to move on in a bid to further his career.

One would assume that with the influx of cash at West Ham, coupled with Europa League football once again being on offer, that prospective signings would be queueing up outside London Stadium looking to pull on claret and blue each and every week in front of 60,000+ supporters.

But as is so often the case with business at West Ham, things aren't quite that simple.

By this point in last year's summer transfer window, Nayef Aguerd, Alphonse Areola, Flynn Downes had already arrived, while Gianluca Scamacca was being unveiled as the club's fourth major signing of the window. Four further new faces followed, including Lucas Paqueta, and West Ham finished the window as one of the biggest spenders in Europe.

Fast forward 12 months and, with a European trophy under their belt and the club's reputation higher than ever, just one player has arrived at West Ham. That one player is a 17-year-old winger from Cliftonville, Sean Moore, who in all likelihood won't be anywhere near the first team squad this season.

Worryingly, the Premier League season starts in 17 days at the time of writing. So what's going on?

The effect of last season & the decision to hire Tim Steidten

Wednesday 7 June, 2023 is a date that West Ham supporters around the world will remember forever.

A night when the club ended a 43-year trophy drought, beating Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final in Prague thanks to Jarrod Bowen's dramatic 90th minute winner. Remarkably, that was West Ham's 14th win in the 15 European games played during the season - the 1-1 draw away at Gent in the first leg of their last eight clash the only blemish on the Hammers' otherwise perfect record.

That streak is even more remarkable when you consider West Ham's performances in the Premier League. After an incredibly slow start which saw the club lose five of their first seven games, David Moyes quickly adopted survival mode in an attempt to navigate a fixture schedule like no other. Playing every Sunday and Thursday, with domestic cup competitions and a World Cup thrown in for good measure, the volume of games was relentless.

Quickly out the window was the notion that West Ham could play a more free-flowing, expansive brand of football, playing to the strengths of marquee signing Paqueta. Instead, it was very apparent that Moyes was doing whatever it took to avoid defeat - West Ham's defensive line getting deeper and deeper with each passing week - and that Michail Antonio would often be taking on a back four all on his own.

It meant that West Ham's major signings, Paqueta and Scamacca, were nowhere near as effective as they could have been. The former struggled to impose himself in the early months of the season, acclimatising to the pace of the Premier League, while the latter never really got going at any point during 2022/23 - he even struggled to get into the side before injury struck.

After the World Cup, Paqueta began to showcase his quality, stamping his authority on games more and more, and he was soon one of West Ham's most consistent performers. But the results still didn't come in the Premier League.

The final day 2-1 defeat to Leicester City, who themselves endured a shocking season to go down, was the 20th time the Hammers, who ended up finishing 14th, had come away from a game with nothing. The 20th time.

It's no surprise then that David Sullivan, regardless of West Ham's achievements in Europe, was pretty underwhelmed by what he'd seen. Paqueta, with a splash of Emerson, Aguerd, Areola and Thilo Kehrer thrown in, had been the only incoming to really, really impress, with Moyes' position as manager considered on a number of occasions.

The Scot's dealings in the market, led alongside head of recruitment Rob Newman, were under the microscope, with Sullivan seemingly unwilling to make the same mistakes again this time around. The decision was eventually taken to hire a technical director tasked with overseeing the club's player recruitment strategy and scouting, and the successful candidate was Tim Steidten, formerly of Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen.

Steidten's background and track record of signings

Serge Gnabry, Kevin De Bruyne (on loan) and Thomas Delaney are three premier examples of the profile, and calibre, of player identified by Steidten during his time at Werder Bremen. All three under the age of 22 when signed, clearly gifted and with a high ceiling in terms of potential.

Moussa Diaby, Jeremie Frimpong, Edmond Tapsoba and Piero Hincapie four further signings during Steidten's time at Bayer Leverkusen, all of whom fall into a similar mould.

It's clear to see that Steidten works towards a particular philosophy and plan. He identifies young players who can come in and change the dynamic of a team not only now but also in the years to come. Players with potentially huge resale value in the future - likely to outgrow the club in all likelihood but extremely coachable and able to adapt to what's being asked of them - and often players bought directly from source.

It's a business model that many teams in continental Europe adopt. Red Bull Salzburg in Austria is perhaps the biggest raw talent of pool of the last decade, and it's a way of working that Brighton & Hove Albion have been implementing over the last few years. The club's reputation? Sky rocketing. The club's bank balance? Consistently ticking over. The club's cohesion in terms of recruitment? Faultless.

West Ham could do a lot worse than the players Steidten is identifying, particularly as they all indicate pulling in one direction. Youssouf Fofana, Denis Zakaria, Edson Alvarez, Elye Wahi and the aforementioned Tah are all players the German has recommended as signings - the most expensive of that quintet likely to be Ajax's Alvarez, who was previously of interest to Chelsea and Manchester United and had looked likely to join Borussia Dortmund earlier this summer.

Zakaria is the oldest of the five at 26, but the downside from Moyes' point of view is that he is the only player with any Premier League experience. West Ham's manager sees things very differently in terms of what's needed to plug the gap left by Rice, as well as in other positions - he wants players who can slot into the side immediately, understanding the rigours of top flight football in England.

At least in Carlos Borges' case, there seems to be willingness from both Moyes and Steidten to do that particular deal.

Who does Moyes want to sign?

Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher is a player West Ham have been tracking for a long, long time. Young, full of running and very talented with both feet, the 23-year-old has a number of desirable attributes, and is a regular in Gareth Southgate's England squad.

The issue for West Ham here, and other interested parties, is Gallagher's price. The Hammers verbally indicated they would be prepared to pay £40m to Chelsea, inclusive of bonuses, but that figure falls some way short of what the Blues want. It's a similar story over at Fulham, with two West Ham bids for Joao Palhinha, a player who is 28, turned down - the second of which 90min understands was worth £50m.

Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire, James Ward-Prowse are three further players identified by Moyes this summer, all of whom have an abundance of Premier League football under their belt and would probably expect to be starters.

But with a premium price point applied for playing in England, none of the three will come cheap. Most importantly, they appear to conflict with Steidten's long-term vision for the club - they don't really carry any resale value and, in truth, are unlikely to improve as footballers.

Gallagher perhaps bucks the trend in terms of his current ability and potential, but coming close to Chelsea's asking price would significantly dent the Hammers' budget. Steidten's targets, with the exception of Alvarez, are probably attainable for half of that price and that's where the issue lies.

Where does this leave West Ham?

The end result is West Ham are not as far forward as they should be this summer.

With two-and-a-half weeks of the season to go, central midfield is an area of real concern and any new signing will need to slot straight into the side. That points towards West Ham heading in the direction of Moyes' preferred targets, as avoiding a slow start will be a high priority.

Verbal enquiries and offers have been put in for close to a dozen players, yet nothing concrete has been put forward. Seemingly, there's no overarching agreement of what West Ham need, so instead it's a feeling out process to gauge the feel of the market. Ultimately, the Hammers may end up alienating either Moyes or Steidten, making a long-term co-operation between the pair less and less likely.

The only certainty right now is that the pressure is on West Ham to spend - they must decide on what direction they are going in and they must do it quickly.

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