Pouring calming oil on the choppy waters of West Ham’s transfer window is all well and good providing the end results prove that the claimed activity ‘behind the scenes’ is real and yields results.
Insider exWHUEmployee has sought to do just that, with an update today claiming that West Ham’s transfer business is now is being undertaken in a very different manner to previous windows, when multiple bids were made in a scattergun strategy which often involved leaks to the press to try and move negotiations forward.
The unnerving ‘radio silence’ with which this window has proceeded has taken a lot of fans by surprise. Writing on the westhamway.com, the club insider has suggested there is a very different MO being adopted this summer, focusing on one player rather than multiple options:
Fullkrug: Product of a poor transfer strategy that would not happen again with West Ham’s changed methodology
““Often, they would jump very quickly from one target to another and not try and negotiate a fair price for the top target. Things are different now.
West Ham have targeted positions and targeted players. The number one target remains the number one target through a period of negotiations until either they sign that player, or they can’t agree terms, and we move on to target two.”
By way of justification for the ‘new’ strategy, ‘Ex’ claims:
Had we had this approach during other windows, the likes of Fulkrug, Todibo, Cornet, and others may not have been bought. None of these were first choices, but at the time, we determined that these guys represented the “best value”, which ultimately didn’t translate at all to the best fit for the club.”
Which sounds all well and good but ultimately, results only will suffice as the richest club in the Championship gets ready for an arduous campaign with zero signings, five first team departures and a host of former academy players lined up to plug the gaps. By way of summary, the Hammers insider signs off with:
“I do not think we will sign a multitude of players by September 1st, but I am assured by multiple people in the club that we will have three or four good signings, to go with good players staying and some Academy boys getting their chance”
Time to either hang onto that belief for the next couple of weeks then, or start to feel a sense of ‘we tried‘ deja vu is about to envelop the Hammers’ narrative. I’ll take the former. For now.
This is great to hear and hopefully will bear fruit.No more scattergun approaches for very average players which has been our downfall in the past.
I prefer a quiet approach to Sullivans baloney. Happy not to know until the signing is announced if that results in players who make contributions.
3-4 players? Won’t be enough and won’t be £20mil players either.