How far we have travelled in such a short time. As the narrative from this summer’s transfer dealings starts to trickle into the public domain, it is clear that West Ham United have been setting the bar very high for new recruits. Tim Steidten, travelling thousands of miles to grab the best available signings and spend millions of the Board’s money, has clearly been making his and Lopetegui’s standards abundantly clear to those chosen to join the club.
Which is music to my ears. Instead of splurging the cash on exotic players who never amount to anything a la Felipe Anderson – our management duo have made it clear that playing for this East London side is a privilege with demands made of each recruit to the team.
Steidten’s recruitment of Leeds’ player of the championship Cyrencio Summerville is a case in point. The player was in great demand with interest from other Premier League sides, and from what we have seen is a stunning addition and at last a solution for several years for our ‘problem’ left wing spot. We’ve already seen glimpses of what he will bring to West Ham – and it is a very exciting prospect.
But even as he was being ‘seduced’ by the lure of London Stadium. Steidten was making it clear what he and Lopetegui demand in return for the cash and the kudos of joining. The Athletic make clear the conversation Steidten had with Cyrencio in the famed LearJet en route to London Stadium.
Summerville – Steidten seeks 100%
Steidten actually “challenged Summerville to become as much of a success as Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez“.
He outlined why being: ‘Average was not good enough’ and Summerville: “Needed to develop into a top-tier signing.”
What has been missing for so long, in my opinion. Expectation and demanding 100%, more akin to Mark Noble’s captaincy days rather than the Zouma era.
It is a welcome sign: demanding the best of exciting talent, week in week out, is what will truly transform our club into a top-six contender. Again it is a sign of what David Sullivan created when he took Tim Steidten fully into the Hammers Inner Circle.
We’ve come a long way since the days of Alan Mc Knightmare, Roger the Relegator and even Roberto…
How far have we come?
We have spent a fortune and won one game out of 3!
Same old…me thinks!
Time will tell.
COYI
The potential is there, Kilman, Wan-Bissaka and Summerville looking good so far, but the jury is still out on the rest.
Time will tell. So many false dawn’s over the last 4 decades but we can only hope.
Once we actually know our starting 11 and the manager starts them all, consistently, we shall know if things have changed and improved.
3 games in and nothing has changed yet.
Regardless who we buy , whenever we play so called big team , we give them to much respect, we need to play our style of football and let them worry what we can do to them , instead of playing out from the back , route 1 and attack , put constant pressure on them .
Maybe we can have a great season .
C.O.Y.I ⚒️