Given their steadfast refusal to adapt to modernity, West Ham’s recent success is both impressive and bewildering.
One of few Premier League clubs whose scouting has largely rejected or deprioritised data, they have a list of transfer failings which can rival the very worst. Since joining in 2023, there’s little evidence technical director Tim Steidten has done anything to improve that.
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Read MoreAnd yet in Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta, they also employ three of the most exciting and talented footballers in the top flight.
That Julen Lopetegui could not even get the best from these three was an obvious indicator his tenure would not last long. But it would be unfair to suggest he was handed a flawless – or even particularly good – squad, despite £120m spent during the summer.
Here’s a breakdown of how West Ham got here, and some of their headline mistakes of recent years.
A signing Lopetegui pushed for against Steidten’s better judgement, the Argentine turned out to be a poor fit for the club and the league, especially when Edson Alvarez was already there.
Rodriguez runs like gravity is just slightly stronger for him than everyone else. Even on a Bosman, they overpaid. Part of a long tradition of poorly utilising the free transfer market in east London, and of signing No 6s like Carlos Sanchez and Havard Nordtveit.
Luis Guilherme
Guilherme embodies the very worst of the schism between Lopetegui and Steidten.
This was the latter’s transfer through and through, but the head coach was clearly unconvinced. A £25.5m signing who has played 38 minutes this season, although at 18 there is still plenty of time for him to come good.
Evidence that Niclas Fullkrug’s move has worked is very slim (Photo: Getty)
Now, Fullkrug is a perfectly good striker, not that that ever means much at West Ham. But £27m for an injury-prone 31-year-old was baffling at the time and has aged dreadfully, with two goals from nine appearances broken up by a lingering Achilles issue.
He was supposedly brought in by Steidten to provide leadership and experience but evidence that has worked is very slim. Could also drag Maximilian Kilman into this bracket given the price paid for both, but that’s perhaps harsh.
Gianluca Scamacca
One of the greats of the genre. Signed for £30.5m in July 2022, by August 2023 he was on his way out for £8m less than his initial fee, having scored three league goals.
Then headed to Atalanta and scored 19 goals the following season before starting for Italy at Euro 2024. Well done lads, good process.
Who is Luizao, I hear you ask? Great question. Now 22, the centre-back signed from Sao Paulo in January 2023, on a three-year contract and has since played zero senior minutes. He’s now up for sale and will likely never wear the Claret and Blue in a competitive match.
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An utterly futile signing into a developmental set-up with a relatively poor track record for producing and improving talent – there are no academy players in the current first-team squad. This is youth recruitment at its worst – actively damaging careers at no benefit to the club.
File this one under: why? This was a signing made because he was available, the laziest possible option for a perfectly middling price at £17.5m, after a fine but not special season with Burnley.
Now rotting at Southampton, where he’s been so bad they’re discussing sending him back. Hard to say how bad someone has to be for a club with six points to turn down their help. They have a one-year option on his five-year contract though, which I’m sure will come in handy.
Nikola Vlasic
Between Everton and West Ham, Vlasic has played four seasons in the Premier League and made 31 appearances.
Having signed for £25.7m in 2021 after a mildly impressive Euro 2020, the Croatian No 10 scored once in two years, before joining Torino for £8m. He has since produced such quality football the Italians consider even that a rip-off. Another feat of scouting.
Two defensive midfielders signed on loan two years apart, who made nine league appearances combined for the club, only one of which was Kral.
By the end, Phillips had reportedly “lost interest in playing Premier League football”. West Ham reportedly paid around £13m for the privilege of temporarily owning the pair.
Sebastien Haller
Best remembered for one brilliant bicycle kick, and his 400 failed attempts at repeating it. A £40m signing sold for less than half that two years into a five-year deal, he bagged 14 in 54 West Ham matches before becoming one of the most prolific strikers in Europe almost immediately after leaving.
Benched for Michail Antonio and did not remotely suit David Moyes‘ football having signed to play under Manuel Pellegrini.
Jack Wilshere’s body had long started failing him when Arsenal let him go (Getty Images)
Introducing a new sub-category – players whose careers are obviously over to everyone but West Ham executives, aka “they’re free for a reason”.
Wilshere‘s body had long started failing him when Arsenal let him go, but that didn’t stop the Hammers paying him £100,000 per week. Started his first four games then only started four more in two years before his contract was terminated early.
As for Nasri, he was picked up after an 11-month doping ban, turned up overweight and played six matches. Arbeloa didn’t even manage that, clearly already half-retired to anyone outside east London. These were unnecessary risks who became wasted money.
Bad West Ham striker
Here’s the archetype to end all archetypes, so powerful and all-encompassing some consider it a genuine curse. Haller, Fullkrug and Scamacca deserved their own sections, but Brian Montenegro, Marouane Chamakh and Modibo Maiga did not. Remember Simone Zaza? How about Albian Ajeti? Ashley Fletcher? Lucas Perez? Emmanuel Emenike?
This is a club uniquely bad at buying strikers, so much so that they had to convert their right-back into their all-time Premier League goalscorer. Incompetence at the highest level over such a long period of time in both their striker scouting and coaching should incite some form of points deduction.
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Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( 14 West Ham transfer blunders that explain their misery )
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