West Ham’s transfer activity only got going late in the summer, following the sole signing of Keiber Lamadrid in June. Weeks and weeks passed until the players started to land – seemingly just days ahead of the Championship kick off.
Joel Piroe, Edvin Austbo, Manor Solomon, Joel Veltman, Divine Mukasa, Morato, and Adama Boiro would all sign on the line before the end of the window, but it is the fast-improving Arne Engels, looking to take on the Mateus Fernandes role for a fraction of the price, who seems something of an inspired Nils Koppen snare for a statement £22 million.
He might be less ‘showy’ than the on-loan Mukasa, but his place in the side seems now assured after just a handful of starts. As footballleagueworld.co.uk observe:
“An excellent end to the transfer window, as well as four wins in their last four games, scoring 16 goals over that period, has shot the club towards the summit of the table, and those efforts almost certainly wouldn’t have been possible without one summer signing….it would be Arne Engels’ £22 million move from Scottish side Celtic that would take most of the headlines.
Arne Engels struggled on his Championship debut
With two assists in his first six Championship games, Engels looks every bit the player West Ham paid £22 million to bring to the English second tier, and if he can maintain that standard of performance throughout the campaign, then they could have a real gem on their hands.”
Which is something of a relief: Some fans were even questioning his worth after debut as he put in an admittedly shaky start in front of 60,000 in the Charlton game when some claimed he ‘wouldn’t get in a league one side’.
Credit to the young man for getting his head down and just playing solid football. The set piece he delivered for Mavropanos’ headed goal against Bolton Wanderers gave us a glimpse of his dead ball abilities and he backed that up with some pretty solid defensive blocks later on, to ensure the Irons walked away with the points that night.
We’ll still have to wait until the end of the season to determine his value in this season’s ‘promotion challenge’ – but the early signs are looking good.