Behind the scenes, West Ham’s recruitment department is alive and kicking – Here’s the proof

Despite the lack of a head of recruitment at London Stadium – or pretty much a head of anything just now – it does appear that the ‘recruitment department’, or whatever is left  of it after high profile departures ,is still alive and kicking.

Whether the club will be ready to act on any of the intel being gathered is another issue altogether, even assuming the club have the financial wherewithal after disposing of Mateus Fernandes for top dollar likely in the next few weeks.

Roshane Thomas, writing in the Athletic, makes the point that West Ham are ‘plotting a move’ for a Premier League winger as the club look for replacements for Traore and Summerville, should he be sold this summer:

West Ham are interested in Brighton winger Amario Cozier-Duberry. The 21-year-old helped Bolton “Wanderers gain promotion to the Championship during a season-long loan and was nominated for the EFL League One player of the year award.

Cozier-Duberry, a long-standing target for West Ham, has two years remaining on his contract and discussions have been held over an extension”.

Following on the back of reports linking the Hammers with wide men Dwight McNeil and Anthony Musaba  there’s clearly a direction of travel here to restore the pace within the side that the departure of Summerville would exacerbate.

In truth, the sale of Kudus and Guilherme without replacement in the last couple of windows left West Ham with a lop sided, two dimensional attack which Nuno did his best to address in the winter window with the short term signing of Traore.

It proved inadequate to effect the club’s relegation fight so hopefully these recent reports signpost West Ham’s plans to bring in pacy, experienced wingers to boost the Championship campaign.