West Ham have spent no shortage of money in the last four years, it may come as a surprise to some fans to learn they have an estimated net spend of a whopping £100million in that time.
Taking mega brands like United, Arsenal and Liverpool, as well as billionaire play-thing club’s like Chelsea and City out of the equation – this net spend ranks highly. In the same time Everton have a net spend of £68million, Spurs £3million and Southampton £5million.
Something’s not going right at West Ham in the scouting department, they can’t recoup big funds on players to the same extent as Spurs or Southampton because they simply don’t have enough players that the big boys of European and English football are interested in. Recouping these funds allows teams like Spurs and Southampton to spend again, whilst running a tight ship financially.
Furthermore, the fans get to enjoy quality players at their club and in Tottenham’s case are now big enough to hold off advances from English football’s giants. Jose Mourinho has said exactly that this week.
Quality, extensive scouting is needed at West Ham. The club just doesn’t sign enough quality players. Simple. Every club has transfer failures, that’s part and parcel of the game. But how many West Ham signings in the last four years have been true hits? Let’s take a look back.
The 13/14 season saw the £15million acquisition of Andy Carroll, who you just might be able to call a success, despite his injury problems, although many would argue. 14/15 saw Kouyate arrive for £7million and Cresswell for £4million, both decent value-for-money signings, but stars? No way.
The 15/16 season saw the arrival of Dimitri Payet, the only player who has turned out to be truly exceptional that West Ham have signed in what feels like a lifetime. The Frenchman only stuck around for a season and a half though, and regressed big-time when the going got tough.
This season has seen £20million spent on Ayew, £9million on Lanzini and £10million on Snodgrass. The jury remains out on these players, although Lanzini could possibly be heading in the right direction as he takes over the creative responsibility from Payet. The Argentinian will need to add more goals to his game if he wants to be considered a top player though.
It’s hardly an amazing list of players to look back on. Four years worth of windows and these were the best signings. West Ham need a new approach, a measured strategy, not a public ‘WE ARE GOING TO SIGN A STRIKER FOR LOADS OF MONEY’ cry from the owners, that’s not the way to do business.
Next season cold be one of the most important at West Ham in a generation, they need to make the Olympic stadium feel like home, and to do that they need some memorable games there. Gold and Sullivan.