Moyes victim of summer business – Johnson

Former West Ham defender Glen Johnson insists that David Moyes’ summer signings are a key reason behind the club’s struggles.

The Hammers boss was heavily backed in the transfer window as the Irons signed Lucas Paqueta from Lyon, Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo, Nayef Aguerd from Rennes, Maxwel Cornet from Burnley, Emerson from Chelsea, Thilo Kehrer from PSG, Flynn Downes from Swansea and Alphonse Areola from PSG.

That summer spend, per Transfermarkt, set the club back over £160m but the Hammers just aren’t firing.

The Irons are languishing in the relegation zone ahead of the clash with Wolves and a large number of the summer signings have struggled to make their way into the first-team.

Only Kehrer is playing regularly, while Aguerd is already injured, and Scamacca and Paqueta have yet to fully convince in the Premier League.

And Johnson believes a key reason for this season’s struggles has been their inability to settle into the team.

Quoted by the Evening Standard, Johnson said: “They went quite deep in the Europa League on a light squad. West Ham have got a lot of new faces and unfortunately, not many of them are firing

“Just when you think ‘they’ve got some more legs in there, they’ve got a bigger squad and they can kick on now’, actually the opposite has happened.

“It’s normal for a couple of new signings to not hit the ground running, but you normally expect some of them to do the opposite.”