By Maria Goodchild

This is paid for content

West Ham United manager David Moyes has enjoyed a good and solid second spell at the club following his return back in the 2019/20 Premier League campaign of course.

It bears repeating the steady improvement in the English top flight and fans have even been treated to some good European nights as well given seventh and sixth place finishes in former years.

However, 2022/23 campaign has turned into a bit of a nightmare. And with poor form in the first half of the year we had the disruption of the enforced mid season pause, we have shown little to no improvement since domestic European leagues restarted again, and you do not need a Quinnbet bonus code to know which way we are heading.

The major disappointment for fans is that Moyes was backed heavily during the summer transfer window, with an estimated £160 million spend on players like Lucas Paqueta, Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd and Maxwel Cornet, but they have not really hit the ground running properly via injury and lack of form.

With the January window now here, there is plenty of further transfer speculation surrounding the club with the likes of Sevilla’s Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri continuing to be linked, along with others.

The problem for the club is balancing the risk of further spending, and it not working, and then the associated costs of potentially suffering relegation to the Championship and the financial ramifications we would then face.

Speaking recently to BBC Sounds Transfer Gossip Daily podcast, Telegraph football reporter Luke Edwards, explained.

“This is what happens when you head into a January transfer window and you’re at a club that isn’t doing well – they sometimes feel the need to delve into the transfer market.

That is partly to appease supporters, partly to show ambition, partly to appease a manager under pressure in the shape of David Moyes, who has obviously done very well for the club. If he’s asked for a forward, they are trying to give him what he wants.”

Edwards continued on to say.

“But I’m surprised they still have money to spend because they spent a lot in the summer. We talk about how much Newcastle and Chelsea spent, but West Ham have spent a hell of a lot of money and they’ve gone backwards.

En-Nesyri has not had the best of seasons with Sevilla – I don’t think he’s scored in 12 games, but he has got a decent record in La Liga. It’s just whether West Ham can persuade a club that is struggling, like Sevilla, to part with one of their saleable assets, effectively for nothing or a small amount of money now and then a chunk in the summer.”

Fans will be hoping West Ham can strengthen this window and that our form quickly turns, but everyone knows it is now a massive gamble.