By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham rejected potential summer signings after background checks and face-to-face meetings raised red flags over their personalities, Nils Koppen has confirmed.
Speaking during an extensive Iron Cast interview, the Hammers’ Director of Player Recruitment explained just how far the club went when assessing the character of potential signings.
Koppen revealed that West Ham sometimes travelled to meet players, held Zoom calls and spoke to people who had worked with them throughout their careers. More intriguingly, he admitted that some potential deals were abandoned as a result.
Koppen admits West Ham walked away
“I think we try to do it in two ways,” explained Koppen. “We put a lot of emphasis on going on a Zoom call with the player, sometimes even travelling out just to speak with them, just to get a feeling and ask detailed questions not only about football, but also about family life, their pathway until now.”
Koppen revealed that managers and former team-mates are consulted, although he believes backroom staff can provide even better information.
“I think the best reference for me is more like backroom staff members, physios, assistant coaches that work with the players day-to-day. They provide us with good insights.”
But it was Koppen’s admission that West Ham actually rejected some targets which really caught my attention.
“We had some examples also this window if the references were not good and if we didn’t have a good feeling during the meeting, we would say, ‘This doesn’t feel right’, because this window for us was all about togetherness and getting the right personalities in.
“So that was a big red flag if that didn’t feel right because you cannot put a number to personalities. But it was a no-go in some cases.”
Nils Koppen discusses West Ham’s summer recruitment strategy during his Iron Cast interview.
I’d love to know who they were
Rejecting players on the grounds of personality is nothing new. After all, West Ham fans will be very used to this, with David Moyes having his own MOT test, which, as we understood it at the time, had far more to do with personality than anybody’s ability to kick a football around the pitch.
What I find far more intriguing is Koppen alluding to some players being rejected on the basis of personality.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall and find out who those were.
At the moment, the squad do seem to be a harmonious group and, as for the summer transfers, from what I can gather, most appear to be working out quite nicely.
It certainly adds another layer to why I came away so impressed after listening to Koppen’s interview.
If the new policy of checking players’ characters before they sign saves West Ham from signing disruptive personalities like Jean-Clair Todibo or Niklas Füllkrug, then that’s no bad thing.