Much has been made of West Ham’s summer recruitment spree during one of the most active transfer windows in recent memory.
Tim Steidten has worked diligently to provide Hammers’ head coach Julen Lopetegui with a squad as close to the ideal “two players per position” as possible. While there remains an opportunity to recruit out-of-contract players, and more signings are expected, most agree that West Ham has been proactive.
What is even more impressive is that Steidten managed to achieve this without selling any of the club’s superstars. Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen, Edson Alvarez, and Emerson were all linked with moves away from the London Stadium.
While there was speculation, no player ever came close to leaving the club, despite Kudus having an £85m buyout clause in his contract.
The Hammers’ hierarchy even managed to fend off interest from Aston Villa in prized youngster Lewis Orford, with Mark Noble reportedly playing a key role in negotiations.
As the dust settles on a hectic transfer window that saw nine players arrive, it’s important to remember those who remained as well as the new arrivals.
Quite impressive consider inf no European football this year. Good players seeing other good players coming in through the door will encourage them to stay. Not wishing to sound negative, the pressures on now though as we have to deliver European football next year in my opinion if we’re going to hold onto a lot of these players.