West Ham Transfer Round-Up: Assessing All Nine New Arrivals

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

West Ham’s transfer window is finally over and Nils Koppen has completed a nine-man overhaul of Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad.

There are experienced free transfers, expensive Championship gambles, proven goalscorers and some genuinely exciting young talent among them.

Some I’ve seen enough of to form a pretty strong opinion already. Others will need considerably longer.

So, rather than attempting to score the entire transfer window just yet, here’s my early verdict on every West Ham signing.

Keiber Lamadrid

To be honest, Lamadrid was already here, so it’s difficult to really class him as a new signing.

But for a minimal fee of around £1million to turn his loan move permanent, West Ham can’t really lose on this one.

I don’t look at him and think he’s a £15million player in the making, but that’s almost irrelevant at this price. It’s a very small fee for a young player who was already integrated into the squad.

Verdict: Low risk at £1million.

Joël Veltman

The free transfer from Brighton has probably surprised me more than anyone.

I really like what I’ve seen.

Veltman is 34, but he has the necessary leadership qualities and experience that this squad needs. In many respects, I wish we’d brought in a few more leaders during the window.

His age means he’s obviously a short-term signing, but his experience could be incredibly useful during a Championship promotion campaign.

Verdict: Much better than I expected.

Manor Solomon

Very important.

West Ham needed a replacement for Crysencio Summerville and, in many respects, Solomon is probably a poor man’s version of the player we sold.

But I like him.

At £5million with another £2million reportedly due if West Ham are promoted, I think there’s plenty to like about the deal.

He gives us pace, dribbling ability and a natural option on the left. I expect him to be very important this season.

Verdict: Sensible business in a position we desperately needed to fill.

Arne Engels

All the pressure is on him.

West Ham paid £22million to sign Engels from Celtic, making him the most expensive transfer in Championship history.

That’s a decent statement of ambition from the club, but it’s also an enormous amount of expectation to place on his shoulders.

I didn’t think he started particularly well, but there were encouraging signs against Watford.

For £22million at this level, though, West Ham will understandably expect a lot from him.

Verdict: Good potential, huge pressure.

Joel Piroe

Another relatively low-risk deal.

Piroe has arrived on loan with an option to buy and is a proven Championship goalscorer.

If he gets enough football, I actually suspect he’ll outscore both Pablo and Taty Castellanos.

The reported £8million required to make the move permanent if we’re promoted isn’t particularly frightening either.

Verdict: Proven goals without taking a huge financial gamble.

Divine Mukasa

The most exciting signing of the lot for me.

A former West Ham academy player who was poached by Manchester City, Mukasa has returned on loan and already looks absolutely brilliant.

There’s pace, technique, creativity and, most importantly, goals in him.

I’m expecting double figures from Mukasa this season.

Verdict: The one I’m most excited about.

Edvin Austbø

Another really exciting young player.

I’ve only seen a fleeting glimpse of Austbø after he came on against Wolves, so I’m certainly not going to pretend I’ve formed a complete judgement yet.

But West Ham desperately needed another fast dribbler.

Whether he becomes an understudy to Solomon or Nuno finds another role for him remains to be seen, but he definitely increases our attacking options.

Verdict: Exciting profile and exactly the sort of pace we needed.

Morato

This feels very much like our fourth-choice centre-back at the moment.

Max Kilman’s start to the season has been so good that I’d imagine Morato arrives from Nottingham Forest primarily as understudy and competition rather than somebody who immediately walks into the team.

We took a closer look at Morato on Claret & Hugh earlier this week, and there are certainly attributes to work with.

The loan structure also reduces the risk considerably.

Verdict: Useful defensive depth rather than an obvious starter.

Adama Boiro

We needed a left-back. That much was absolutely clear.

West Ham also needed somebody who offered something different from the options already at the club.

I believe Nuno started the window expecting El Hadji Malick Diouf to remain, so Boiro feels slightly like an emergency “break glass” transfer following Diouf’s eventual departure.

I’ve not seen enough of him to make an accurate judgement yet.

However, his attacking numbers are encouraging and I suspect he’s probably better than our existing options going forward, rather than necessarily being a significant defensive upgrade.

That’s important because West Ham need an attacking outlet from left-back who can overlap Manor Solomon and give us width.

Verdict: A necessary signing with an attacking profile West Ham were missing.