West Ham’s summer a year ago was certainly busy but fans can certainly look back as their activity prior to this season as a disappointment, with the majority of their signings failing to hit the mark due to a number of reasons.

Whilst some have struggled with injuries, the majority have been woeful and the club confirmed yesterday that Alvaro Arbeloa, Jonathan Calleri and Gokhan Tore would be leaving the club- all of which arrived a year ago.

Arbeloa was supposed to add experience to West Ham’s defensive line but failed to feature regularly, whilst loanees Jonathan Calleri and Gokhan Tore failed to do enough to earn a permanent switch to East London- following on from Simone Zaza, who left in January.

Spaniard Arbeloa featured just four times, with his last opportunity coming in December’s 5-1 defeat to Arsenal, whilst Tore managed eight appearances before suffering a season-ending knee injury back in October.

Of the trio, Calleri earned the most opportunities but the young Argentine striker managed to find the net just once in 19 appearances- a return that sums up the Hammers’ woes in front of goal during their past campaign.

It’s clear West Ham need to strengthen their ranks this summer but a flurry of activity like they completed last year helps no-one, so the better option is for Slaven Bilic to limit his recruits to a small number and eye established Premier League names.

The early move for Pablo Zabaleta on a free transfer, following his release from Manchester City, is the perfect example of the sort of business that the Hammers need to be completing this summer and Bilic needs to follow the same pattern moving forward.

A new striker needs to be the next priority and West Ham could end up paying a premium price if they eyed a permanent deal, whilst they’d also struggle to beat top-end rivals to the sort of signings they need- so the loan market is a good option.

Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho are the sort of players the Hammers need to be eyeing, as the pair are certainly talented but have a lot to prove- a sentence that can also be used to describe Slaven Bilic’s side.

All in all, four first-team signings is probably the ideal amount for the Hammers as any more than that could leave the squad facing issues settling and that would still allow moves for strikers, defenders and maybe even a goalkeeper.

Further signings could still be made but they’d be better off using any further deals to strengthen their depth with young talent, rather than shake-up the entire starting line-up as that could cause a wealth of issues.