Graham Potter must be starting to learn the harsh truth about life as West Ham boss… identifying players is one thing, but signing them is quite another.
The new Hammers gaffer had barely got his feet under his desk at the London Stadium before letting the club hierarchy know that he wanted to sign Lille duo Angel Gomes and Jonathan David.
Both players are available on a free transfer in the summer, but whether Potter was aware of the club’s interest in them before his arrival is uncertain.
Because, as most Hammers fans will know, West Ham had already made efforts to lure both players in late December before Potter arrived in East London. Claret & Hugh ran a story early in January stating that the club were “a million miles away” in their bid to sign David, who had actually been offered to the Hammers 12 months earlier for £20m.
We also broke the unfortunate news that West Ham had been outbid for England international and David’s teammate, Gomes. So when Potter arrived and said, “Get me those boys from Lille,” he possibly didn’t know that we’d already tried.
Club bosses had mandated a third party to conduct negotiations for Gomes, and to say things went badly would be an understatement. In terms of botched transfer bids, it was as bad as West Ham offering £45m for Jhon Durán two days after Aston Villa had rejected a €70m bid from PSG.
And therein lies the problem. West Ham do have the willingness—and in some cases, the funds—to sign players, but unfortunately, the club lack a competent negotiator.
It was always C&H’s understanding that Karren Brady led the January move for talented Dutchman Ezechiel Banzuzi. His club, OH Leuven, were far from impressed with the Hammers’ ‘first and final offer’ approach to negotiations and promptly turned on their heels, saying, “No thanks.”
Duran poses for West Ham fans as he readies himself to sign
Duran agent unhappy with summer transfer farce
Jhon Durán’s agent, Jonathan Herrera, is said to be unhappy with West Ham’s mishandling of his client’s transfer and is reportedly not keen to deal with the Irons again. This is a serious issue considering that some of South America’s brightest young talent is on his books.
Factor in the botched and clumsy early approach for Gomes—which left his close-knit team of representatives reluctant to deal with West Ham’s third-party negotiating team—and a worrying pattern emerges.
Chairman David Sullivan appears to have taken a back seat and is no longer involved in negotiations, having delegated duties elsewhere. Tim Steidten did some negotiating and had a tendency to overpay, but he was new to the role and learning.
Graham Potter has arrived at the club and brought with him Kyle Macaulay, but it’s worth remembering that this is his first time as department head of player recruitment—and he does not negotiate deals. He was Chelsea’s ‘Head of Data Analysis’ and previously an analyst at Brighton, where Dan Ashworth was the director of football.
Kyle Macaulay is a talent spotter, not a negotiator
West Ham’s most important signing might be a negotiator
The whole situation has left West Ham in something of a transfer mess, with no deals looking close. So while some fans got very excited when it was revealed that Potter was pushing hard to sign Angel Gomes, there is only so much he can do.
He can instruct the club to try and sign a player, and no doubt those at the top of West Ham can take that instruction seriously. Unfortunately, when it comes to either haggling with a selling club or talking to a player’s representatives, we are failing.
The club urgently need to appoint an experienced football person with a proven track record and a solid contacts book. Because without doing so, we’ll continue to be the laughing stock of the transfer market.
Despite his short comings steidten often went and got the player he gazumpted arsenal and Chelsea for kudus and Alvarez and pinched todibo from Juventus and pulled a fast one in a phantom bit for mazouraui to get man u to part with wan bissaka ,sure he made some errors but as we know not all transfers work as is seen with what Moyes bought and wasted nut by and large he showed he was a shrewd negotiator, and it’s now showing how much of an asset he was with no one from the club getting anywhere with negotiations
Problems always arise when the cart is so far ahead of the horse.
Potter might think we don’t need a DoS but I do He seems like a control freak to me I understand that the manager should have a BIG say but I believe we need Dan Ashford Potter obviously doesn’t want him because he won’t get all his own way For me I’m still not even 50% sure Potter is the right man considering the other bad business Brady has done
When Graham joined us, he must have understood that the owner does not like to spend money! sadly!
Hence Tim Stiedten We are so stupid We had it all Then ruin it
This debacle also highlights the challenge of signing established proven players when we are not going to be competing in Europe next season.
Reading between the lines, both players appear to be board choices not Potters’ . I suspect they were trying to “gift” them to the manager whilst keeping control of all transfers.
The real problem is that West Ham wait until a player is wanted by everyone, rather than paying a decent price for potential, we have been offered players before but turned them down only to regret it a short time later when the price has gone up. Playing for the moment not the future.
We all like a bargain but sometimes you have to read the room. If you can get to a young unknown talent before the rich clubs then it makes sense to try and get a cheap deal, but if you are expecting a low ball offer to work on a known international talent like Gomes, you are just going to give your club a bad name
You might not be bale to say it and still get stories from your “top contact” but Sullivan and Brady are seen as the problem by fans.
Getting discounted deals cannot be the main criteria when trying to sign a much in demand and very rare, highly skilled young player. European football, winning trophies and badly wanting the player are the main points before money can be discussed.
Hi Len, just for clarity . . .none of this stuff is from either of those sources, it’s from outside the club.
I have a an equally damning piece on the Gomes failures coming at about 10:30 today.
The club are certainly in a mess regarding transfer strategy and light years behind our rivals.