One of the more relieved senior executives at West Ham after his July appointment was no doubt breathing a quiet sigh of relief yesterday, as Nuno’s West Ham team took their weekly points tally to six largely thanks to the new arrivals from the transfer window.
Nils Koppen, fresh from FC Copenhagen, arrived at West Ham with no current knowledge of the English leagues and set about the daunting task of ‘reallocating’ a huge swathe of ex-Premier League talent, whilst at the same time finding new players for Nuno on a changing, diminishing transfer budget.
Who’d have had his job this summer: Nils Koppen had to oversee the dismantling and rebuilding of West Ham’s squad on a relative shoestring budget
And it looks, on first impressions, as if he’s done a pretty decent job of it.
Forget, just for a second, the mammoth task of finding clubs willing to take Fullkrug, Wan Bissaka , Todibo et al. Almost every player sold by West Ham this summer – apart from James Ward-Prowse– was at a big profit: No mean feat for this club which banked £200 million from their departures.
And on first showings, several of the ‘arrivals’ have already proved themselves decent additions.
Joel Piroe, on loan from Leeds with an option to buy only kicking in should the Hammers secure promotion, grabbed his second goal since arriving – which is more than some of West Ham’s less illustrious imported strikers managed in their first season.
Arne Engels, very much West Ham’s ‘statement’ signing, breaking the Championship fee record by a mile, created West Ham’s second goal with an intelligent run down the right flank. In addition the young Belgian put in several crunching defensive tackles, winning some viewers’ nomination for an unofficial Irons’ man of the match.
Edwin Austvø looks an enthusiastic, willing runner and energetic forward who was very much a signing from Koppen’s little black book. A goal on his second start is a pretty solid validation of the £12 million reportedly that West Ham forked out late on: Considering Nuno’s choice was Reiss Nelson, Koppen deserves a nod of recognition for Austvø alone.
And Joel Veltman – a free signing – looks to have forced Kyle Walker Peters into second choice at right back, the veteran now in possession of the starting spot for as many games as his legs will allow.
One swallow (or two wins, to be precise) doesn’t make a summer but on first showings, this handful of Koppen’s picks look to be well capable of doing the job. Credit where it’s due, after that chaotic boardroom shenanigans that whipped away most of the transfer budget, West Ham’s window looks as if it might just have produced a decent outcome.
It’s early days still, let’s not forget who kickstarted this run, it’s the youth team kids showing that attacking football is the way forward, Orford, Ajala, Kante, Golembeckis, Scarles and Mukasa who is one of our own even if he left to make his name.
Koppen will be assessed on whether we get out of the league at the first attempt, it’s also largely down to Macauley’s signings generating huge profits that he has a budget and other than Ostbo who looks like the real deal, we won’t know until we are back in the PL whether our current crop are great signings for the long term.
All that caution aside, I do think he has done very well with the signings he has made which give us a bit of balance.
Let’s chat about this after 16 games, or so. Far too early for back patting as well as condemnation.
We’ll get to see how effective the signings have been when most opponents have the measure of their attributes. Only then, I’d say towards the end of January will we know what they have been capable of.
Koppen’s certainly had his plate full, no question about that.
Age is non stop and with it comes many disadvantages.
Veltman and Bowen are going to need rest periods avoiding injuries hopefully.
There is cover for right back but need cover for Bowen.
Suggested Nuno should bring in another striker freebie (Vardy?)
Vardy is off to Burnley i read somewhere today
The new arrivals are doing well but I think solaman deserves a mention very tricky on the ball and has pace , I think he doing as well as anybody . Pleased to see the young side taking shape and there’s more academy players capable of stepping up as we will need them over the season .
indeed, understated and underrated, Solomon for the tiny price WH paid looks another top choice for this league at least.