I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not much of a numbers guy and often feel a little out of my depth when discussing West Ham’s transfer spend.
That said, after reading Sean’s breakdown of the ins and outs yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel the window was rather on the frugal side.
Firstly, I struggle to count Jean-Clair Todibo as a “new signing.” He was here last season, and his £35m fee will almost certainly be spread over the next five years, as is the case with most deals.
Wilson impressed against Forest but is injury prone
West Ham left short with deadline day inactivity
By my own—albeit less precise—calculations, the Hammers’ net spend sits at a meagre £20m. That’s hardly an ambitious outlay. While I’m delighted with the arrival of Mateus Fernandes and excited by the potential of Malick Diouf, the squad still feels undercooked in the striking department.
This is where ambition comes into question. Had West Ham pushed the boat out a little further, two more quality additions could have given Graham Potter a truly formidable starting eleven.
There may be money left for January, especially with the club making around £20m in annual wage savings. If the summer’s goal was to cut costs, then the board have certainly succeeded.
It’s hard to judge Magassa until we’ve seen him play
But only time will tell if this was a good window. Much hinges on Magassa—still an unknown who we’ve yet to see play—and the fitness of Niclas Füllkrug and Callum Wilson.
My verdict? I’m delighted with Fernandes, thrilled Paquetá has stayed, and Walker-Peters looks a shrewd bit of business. Diouf is an exciting prospect. But there’s no escaping the feeling that we should have pushed harder, particularly for another striker.
Sky news reported our net spend as 76 million. That includes Todibo who was on loan but now is now permanent signing, registered and goes onto the books whether it’s amortised or not is still an expense. However the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool are well over £200 million net spend. Previous managers Pellegrini, Lopetegui, even Moyes had a far bigger transfer kitty. Moyes earnt his extra kitty maybe with three years in Europe and winning a trophy. However we’re still lagging a long way behind the top teams.
PL Teams are required to have at least 8 homegrown players (HGP) and the irons have exactly that number. That might have been another reason to keep JWP and to bring in KWP and Callum Wison as they contribute in that department.
Gonzo the net spend was zilch We brought in 55 mill Kudas and 20 mill from Aguerd and that’s roughly what the out goings were
That’s just not true – the net spend was about £50m…
Fernandes – £38m
Todibo – £32.8m
Diouf – £22m
Magassa – £17.3m
Hermansen – £15m
Total – £125.1m
We definitely have a younger squad than this time last year and better in defence and midfield than last year. Possibly also better at GK than last year though time will tell. No worse than last year up front. Overall a decent but not spectacular summer. If the next 3 or 4 transfer windows are similar we might have a team closer to the Brighton model by then. West Ham don’t have the money to do that all in one go. Even though we are improving (a bit) the biggest problem is everyone else is improving too.
There is no mention of Calum Marshal in your blog Gonzo? Have you give up on him already? It leaves the chance for him to get some game time which wouldn’t possibly happen with another striker coming in. Can’t have it both ways Gonzo, giving the youth coming through a chance and buying in many new players. I hope they give Calum some game time between now and the winter window so a decision can be made over getting another striker in if needed, of course injuries to Wilson and Fullkrug would also be a factor in this decision .
Have I given up on him? Come on Rob, don’t blame me for Potter not selecting him, Marshall doesn’t play for the first team.
I’ve praised Marshal to to the hilt in pre-season and wrote here after the Wolves game that he should have featured (funnily enough you didn’t comment on that).
So you can crack on and look for some conspiratorial meaning as to why Marshall was omitted from by blog about West Ham’s transfer spend all you want mate. But until Potter demonstrates that Marshall is a senior squad member by playing him in a game, I’ll not factor him in.
I actually think bang for our buck and pound for pound that’s a pretty decent window- Fernandes, Diouf and Mugassa are all brilliant signings. KWP as you allude to Gonzo is also a good bit of business. I wasn’t thrilled we signed Wilson but, on a free transfer, performance based contract and how he turned up at Forest make him a decent one.
As for other strikers, don’t think we’ve seen the best of Fulkrug plus we have Cummings and Marshall waiting for a crack at it and then if you consider Bowen coming in from the wing we have more options and depth than first appearance suggests.
I’ve got a damn sight more confidence now we got that win and hope the board continue to back Potter as his targets we signed are the sort we’ve all been screaming for and presumably will continue to sign similar.
Up the Irons!
Agreed Gonzo, we’ve not done enough and a decent younger striker was a must.
How long before Fullkrug and Wilson are both out ?
Should also have got Charlie Cresswell in, but we’ve got Sullivan running the show !!
Pretty underwhelmed, to be honest
Might have done enough to stay up, only time will tell, but that is the only ambition of the board that’s why majority of fans want Sullivan and his muppets out.
Like you Ken, I’d have loved Cresswell. I also agree about us possibly doing ‘just enough’ to stay safe but it is going to be close I think.
👍
We’d all like to have bought an Isak or even a Wissa but your comment about not being a numbers man is telling. Sadly our wasteful spending over the three previous years meant we didn’t have the money to spend much this summer. How can you not include the £35m on Todibo? I’m surprised we spent as much as we did and fingers crossed we’ve got better value than in recent years. We’ve now spent £450m in four years and rank 7th in net spend in England. Sadly the wastefulness of Potter’s predecessors means it will take time to get shot of the remaining expensive flops we appear lumbered with.
Isak is a tad unrealistic Rich. Funnily enough, we were offered Wissa for £30m in January.
Net spend is what we spent minus what we sold Rich. If our DOF 🤡 had been better at negotiating sales and we had done our business early we would have earned more incoming and had less outgoings so the net would have been considerably lower, not just in this window but in every window the 🤡 has overseen. Our revenue minus the wages he has signed off on over the years, the dividends he has drawn out of the club, the pointless wages Brady receives and the high interest we pay on loans may be why we’ve got a £100m hole in our accounts. BUT, it shouldn’t be like this, we have massive attendances, pay peanuts for the stadium many of our players would receive higher bids if not for their huge wages and there are 4 million worldwide fans. I’d be fairly sure he makes the club look unprofitable just so he can keep his grubby little fingers in the pie.
Todibo may not have been a ‘new signing’ but it’s still a significant financial commitment this summer that has to be included in the transfer spend.
I think Potters signings in general look fairly good. I definitely think we needed another striker,or at least some commitment from Potter that Marshall would be utilised more.
My biggest disappointment is that we didn’t sign Charlie Creswell. At £13M he could have proved to be a steel.
But Sullivan had to go for a loan. When I think of some of the money we’ve spent on has beens it makes no sense.