West Ham’s latest links, Michael Keane at Everton and Josh Brownhill, now playing in the Saudi Pro League feel strangely familiar. Not familiar in the “we’ve seen these names before” sense, but familiar in the “this is exactly the sort of thing the Sullivan would have done” sense.
Both players have been on West Ham’s radar at different points over the last decade. Keane was admired during his Burnley days, long before Everton paid big money for him. Indeed in 2017 the Hammers registered their interest in the player, and were similarly keen on a loan deal back in January 2023, when the defender had fallen out of favour at the Toffees.
The former England international who turns 34 in January signed a one year extension at Everton in April which runs until June next year.
Brownhill was viewed as a tidy, low‑risk, Premier League‑ready midfielder, available on a free transfer last season. As Martin alluded to earlier, the kind Sullivan’s recruitment department always kept tabs on. In January 2020 he left Bristol City to move to Burnley in a £9m deal despite interest from West Ham. Ironically, the Hammers moved on and secured a deal for club legend Tomas Soucek.
Yet this didn’t dissuade links last summer when the player was available on a free transfer. Yet instead the player moved to Al Shabab where he has been earning an eye watering €146,715 weekly salary according to Capology.
Michael Keane – Championship ready but uninspiring
These were classic “Sullivan targets”: Experienced, British, Premier League-proven, relatively affordable, and unlikely to cause dressing-room disruption. And now, suddenly, they’re back in the conversation. Under Sullivan, West Ham often chased players with Premier League mileage, players who were available at a discount and were safe bets rather than high-ceiling gambles.
Keane fits that mould perfectly, out of favour, experienced, and likely cheap. Brownhill fits it too, versatile, hard-working, and cheap, whilst there remains a big question over his wages.
West Ham’s recruitment department has been reshaped, but not completely rebuilt. Nils Koppen, the new technical director, has inherited databases, scouting notes and historical target lists. It’s entirely plausible that some names from the Sullivan era still sit in the system, flagged as “previous interest, revisit if circumstances change.” And circumstances have changed.
It would be a worry if Koppen is simply dusting off Sullivans old black book.
This is where the debate gets interesting. Argument one would be that these are old targets being recycled.
Yet there is also another view and it’s simply these are just logical, low risk squad options. West Ham need depth.
In this view, Koppen isn’t recycling old targets he’s simply doing what modern recruitment departments do, revisiting historical data when the market shifts. This isn’t laziness, it’s continuity. Football clubs don’t erase their scouting history every time a new director arrives.
Should Fans Be Worried? Not necessarily.
Keane and Brownhill wouldn’t be marquee signings, but they would be, functional, affordable, experienced and useful squad players.
The core worry isn’t the names themselves, it’s the idea that these could be the headline targets rather than the depth pieces. And layered on top of that is the bigger, sharper question supporters keep circling back to: With £200m+ generated from outgoing transfers, how did the transfer kitty end up so small?
If Koppen signs Keane, Brownhill and possibly Reiss Neilson – another player who was linked two years ago and is now a free agent – and that becomes the grand plan… then West Ham risk repeating history instead of rewriting it.
You don’t remember Moneyball? Were you one of the guys in the room who dismissed potential signings because they had a reputation of being too old or flawed? We talk about being data driven and players like these can be ‘value’ in those terms. Using data isn’t just about finding promising nineteen year olds in small leagues. In the end if players like this can improve the squad for the short term objective of returning to the PL why not? Presumably they come without huge transfer fees and on short contracts. What’s not to like?
Dudley I don’t think we need every signing being young and with plenty of future ahead of them. But of all the players we have bought so far, only Engels is young. The problem then that arises, if, we get promoted what do we do with all the has beens and journeymen we have just bought?