By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham are yet to get going in the transfer window, unless you’re counting Keiber La Madrid, of course.
Which I’m not, considering he was already here last season.
But I thought it was worth taking a look at what some of the other football clubs in the Championship were doing whilst West Ham continue to wait to get going in the transfer market, with the new season now just a month away.
Championship Clubs Are Already Spending
The long and short of it is that West Ham have been inactive and, for the most part, other Championship clubs have been busy.
As you’ll see from the money involved, spending is minuscule compared to what we’re used to in the Premier League.
What is beyond doubt, however, is the number of clubs making signings while West Ham appear to remain in the starting blocks.
The numbers really do paint a slightly concerning picture.
According to Transfermarkt, the other Championship clubs have already spent a combined €130.18 million this summer, while West Ham have yet to make what anyone would reasonably describe as a first-team signing.
Instead, the club’s list of arrivals is made up largely of players returning from loan spells, giving the impression of activity without actually strengthening Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad.
| Club | Net Transfer Balance (€) |
|---|---|
| West Ham United | +97.85m |
| Middlesbrough | +10.90m |
| Swansea City | +8.26m |
| Queens Park Rangers | +0.99m |
| Bolton Wanderers | -0.22m |
| Blackburn Rovers | -1.10m |
| Bristol City | -1.75m |
| Cardiff City | -1.80m |
| Norwich City | -2.05m |
| West Bromwich Albion | -3.00m |
| Preston North End | -5.30m |
| Burnley | -6.50m |
| Millwall | -7.00m |
| Birmingham City | -7.50m |
| Derby County | -8.00m |
| Southampton | -11.00m |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | -16.50m |
| Stoke City | -24.71m |
Funds Are Available… So What’s The Delay?
What’s even more striking is that West Ham are hardly short of funds.
The club have already banked €99 million from the sale of Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham Hotspur, creating plenty of room to manoeuvre in the market.
Yet while clubs such as Stoke City, Burnley, Wolves, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Derby County have all been prepared to spend significant sums to improve their squads, the Hammers remain rooted to the spot.
Of course, there is still plenty of time left in the transfer window, and nobody is suggesting West Ham should panic-buy for the sake of it.
However, every day that passes is another day without new players bedding into Nuno Espírito Santo’s system ahead of the new Championship campaign.
Promises Must Soon Become Signings
With pre-season already well underway, supporters are entitled to wonder when encouraging promises will finally be replaced by action.
As things stand, the Hammers do not appear to be close to signing anyone, with the focus instead on retaining key players.
However, surely Nils Koppen and his recruitment staff can only wait for so long before they have to get a wriggle on.
Gonzo your spot on Look closely at our new transfer guru His record suggest nothing special and very ponderous So expect more of this
Teams in the Championship have hardly signed anyone .
I checked the other day and there were a few 1 or 2 million pound transfer deals and that’s about it !!
Honestly , nothing to worry about .
Just be patient . Why would a decent player want to drop into the championship at this stage .
However , by end of August that thinking could well change !
The championship is a marathon and not a sprint and thst goes for transfers too .
And who we keep will be far more important than who we buy
So much money spoilt for choice causes utter confusion.
Updating which academy players will be considered to play isn’t difficult.
Confirming which of original squad will not be sold in any circumstances would be progress.
Regardless of incoming players it’s almost certain that some positions will need reinforcing.
1 or 2 centre backs, mid fielder (Fernandez replacement), left wing (Summerville replacement) and striker.
Amongst very long list there’s some which automatically stand out doesn’t look like rocket science.
Maybe freebie Matt Targett covers l/bk, c/bk, left mid.
With the expertise now installed at whu perhaps there’s too many cooks in the kitchen.
Need to expand on Bowen and Mavro.
the thing is Kris is that i thought the advertised plan was to keep the majority of the premier squad together at the club ? if that’s achieved then i didn’t think you’d be expecting wholesale numbers of numerous arrivals at the club , plus as Spindrift and Dave have pointed out , we may believe that we are a premier club in the wrong division but to everyone else we are a Championsip club . if we start selling many of our perceived better players then there may be a cause for concern if they are not replaced but at the moment most of these still seem to be in situ at the club x
have you copied and pasted this article from every close season for the past 20 years.
players any good don’t move to championship clubs this time of season.
No guarantee any signings will be better than we have already, plus we need to offload a stack of previous rubbish dead wood signings first.
maybe they want to get Summerville etc out the way first.
I’m not hitting the panic button just yet, 13th July is a bit early even by our standards! I don’t know who others have signed but I’d hope we are setting our sights on players slightly above the 1.1m blackburn have spent, or the 5.3m Preston have spent.
Bizarre we’ve got figures in Euros too, rather than Pounds. Exaggerates the differences slightly
Who have Stoke bought? Who have they been able to afford a net spend of £25m?
I am concerned as a fan . We should be signing players by now , we all know new signings need to bed in . Better to have them pre season than before the season starts . Not seeing much difference to years gone by . Not good enough so let’s get moving .
We’ve currently got a squad of half-decent premiership players based on the performances in the second half of the season. The only ones to leave so far are Wilson and Fernandes. We’ve also got some good youngsters who should step up this season.
Please let’s not start getting anxious or negative about not signing anyone Yet. Would you swap the squad we currently have for any others in the championship?