Looking back now, last year’s transfer season was surprisingly enough, a success.
The best of all our acquisitions was Lucas Paqueta, and who can forget that perfectly timed ball to Jarrod Bowen for him to score the biggest goal of his career, and in one of the biggest moments in West Ham history as the Hammers won the Europa Conference League final.
he campaign started slowly for a lot of the new acquisitions, but eventually, they caught up. Paqueta emerged as one of the most essential players on the pitch.
Whether he will be West Ham’s number 10 or 8 will depend on what the team needs and who the team brings to replace the eventual departure of Declan Rice. What is certain is that Paqueta will be a fixture in the midfield.
Possibly the second biggest acquisition of last summer was Nayef Aguerd. After recovering from a pre-season injury, Aguerd became a stalwart at centre-back along with partner Kurt Zouma. If the pair stay fit and continue to play together they will hopefully become one of the more dependable defensive pairings in the Premier League.
West Ham’s additions Thilo Kehrer and Emerson were as advertised. They provided the depth at full-back and defence that was so desperately needed.
As the season went on and Aaron Cresswell began to tire, Emerson picked up the pace and started more games. Kehrer filled in where needed. He played better when he was in his natural centre-back position but he stepped up and filled in for Vladimir Coufal when needed.
A testament to the four mentioned above plus goalkeeper Alphonse Areola who all played in the final game of the year.
When 5 of your 8 summer signings contributed to a tournament final win, we can all look back and say the 180 plus million in transfer fees was well worth it – Europa Conference League Champions !.
Also, even though the jury is still out; Flynn Downes was reasonably solid in the games he played for the Irons, mostly coming in for defensive purposes when the games were tight.
Maxwel Cornet’s mysterious injury held him out most of the season but there were glimpses of him being an effective player. It’s doubtful that he will ever crack the starting lineup but coming off the bench he can create chances for himself and the team.
Danny Ings signed in January in a slightly panicked move by West Ham. Ings, even though at veteran stage, gave the club another number nine option but without an attacking partner he frequently looked lonely up there on his own.
That brings us to perhaps the most exciting and ultimately underwhelming move of the transfer season, Scamacca. After a fast start in tournament play scoring five goals in Conference League competition and three more goals in the Premier League, Scamacca was eventually shut down due to a knee injury. He appeared unhappy with everything and it seemed likely that the unsettled Italian would be loaned out.
As we now know, Scamacca wasn’t loaned out and eventually Moyes would bring in Ings as Antonio’s back-up and Scamacca has perhaps dropped down to third choice.
Now the question to be asked is … Will he be back?
It’s Scamacca and Ings that are baffling – good quality players but why sign them when Moyes system will never suit them? Neither will ever be the lone striker chasing the long ball or scrapping to hold it up – so why did Moyes sign them?