West Ham Transfer Bottleneck Highlights Incredible Virani Workload

By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)

West Ham supporters have spent much of the summer asking the same question: why does it seem to take the club so long to get transfers over the line?

Only yesterday, ExWHUEmployee commented during his West Ham Way update that now the Hammers had wrapped up the deal for Celtic’s Arne Engels, attention could turn towards the transfer of Troy Parrott.

This was brought further into focus when I published my piece on EFL regulations, which explained that transfers have to be registered by noon on the day before a game for a player to be eligible.

It was after that article that one of our regular readers, Morty, asked a very fair question:

“A post a few days ago said the club were desperate to get Parrott signed before Burnley, presumably they will fail in that objective. Do they not have enough staff to handle two transfers simultaneously?”

The simple answer is… no, I don’t think so.

West Ham chief is doing everything

Earlier this week, during a private conversation with a current member of the West Ham staff, the conversation turned to interim chief executive Karim Virani.

We swapped anecdotes about the likeable Virani, who has taken on something of a poison chalice since replacing Karren Brady.

It was then my source informed me:

“Yeah, he’s really nice, everyone likes him. But he’s doing everything at the moment, he’s non-stop.”

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this either.

Certainly, with Daniel Křetínský spending very little time in the country, the day-to-day running of the club has been pretty much exclusively down to our new chief executive.

The club confirmed Virani’s appointment as interim CEO in April, following Brady’s departure, but his responsibilities appear to have expanded considerably since then.

Not only has he been dealing with the commercial and marketing aspects of the club, as well as meeting with stadium operators, he’s also been heavily involved in negotiations for buying and selling players.

The fact that Virani has even managed to find time to meet with fans and deal with a number of other community projects is incredible.

Indeed, West Ham themselves have confirmed that Virani has been meeting regularly with the Fan Advisory Board as part of attempts to repair the relationship between the club and supporters.

Doing the work of four people

It’s worth remembering that Virani isn’t simply covering the duties previously performed by Brady.

Former executive director Tara Warren left the club last year, while other senior executive changes have left a significantly different structure behind the scenes.

In short, Virani appears to be doing the work of at least four people, and all without a murmur of complaint.

In fact, the man himself appears determined to make the very best of his position and restructure the football club brick by brick.

Perhaps that also goes some way towards explaining why transfers have sometimes appeared to move one at a time rather than simultaneously.

Claret & Hugh have reported throughout the summer that West Ham are working on numerous targets, but identifying players is only part of the process. Somebody still has to negotiate and complete the deals.

Considering Virani seems to be on a personal crusade to drag West Ham kicking and screaming into competency, surely it’s time the word ‘interim’ was dropped from his title.

Give the man the gig full-time.

And, more importantly, get him some bloody support.